


Memoria

by Erulastiel Nostariel (LadySarella)



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Action, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Cheesy then dark later, Dark Past, Depression, Drama, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Identity struggles within relationships, Important shit happens that effects everyone, Internal Conflict, Long-Term Relationship(s), Loss, Love, Magneto being Magneto, Magneto love interest, Memories, Mutant Powers, Mutant who can absorb other mutant powers, OC madly in love with Magneto, OC torn between her love and doing what's right, Oral Sex, Power absorption, Psychological Drama, Raven has a crush on Erik, Romance, Rough Sex, Soul Bond, True Love, Undiscovered mutant powers, X-Men Days of future past canon scenes, X-Men First Class canon scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 06:36:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 65,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5817865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySarella/pseuds/Erulastiel%20Nostariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leah Braun is a mutant Holocaust survivor with a power over memories & so much more she has yet to uncover. When approached by Magneto & Xavier to join their first class of mutants to stop Shaw's plan, the personal connection she'd end up forming with Magneto would determine the rest of her life. Story covers First Class, Days Of Future Past, and concluding in Apocalypse. Setting is in 1962, 1973 and 1983.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who am I living for/Into the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing and posting this to Fanfiction.net September 2011, so it's been a long write. It follows along with the release of the movies, so that's half the reason why it's taken so long to finish writing. I own none of the X-Men characters, except my own, Leah Braun.  
> Land man= Country man  
> Leiblinge= Darlings  
> Waise= Orphan  
> Schiff= Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://s392.photobucket.com/user/LadySarella/media/afd69784-741f-4074-94bb-9f058c65cc48_zpsuvkw6zp1.jpg.html)

The rain beat down on me harshly as I tried to shield myself with a soaked through newspaper on the streets of Germany. I walked through the beaten up ghetto trying to get back from my lunch break, I knew Gustaf was going to be mad at me if I was late. Strolling in, I shook off my rain soaked jacket and hung it up on the coat rack by the door and surveyed the bar. Same old drunks in here every day. The nearby factories had been up and running for the last ten years, but life in Germany was still hard as we picked up the pieces from the war.

I thought the drama had already come and gone, that the traumatic events in my already troubled life had passed. I mused to myself that I'd live the rest of my life in the shabby little loft I occupied for the past two years on the outskirts of Dresden, Germany. My home that I had returned to years after the Holocaust. It was on one cool, autumn day two men walked into my life, as they strode through the creaky door, that would prove me wrong.

I was standing behind the wooden bar drying out pint glasses, casually keeping an eye on the few drunkards brooding in the vicinity when the two approached me. The shorter one on the right had a lovely head of dark hair with a refined look about him, and I wasn't speaking about his style of dress; I could tell he was someone of high caliber and intelligence. In contrast, the man next to him stood about half a foot taller, with shorter medium brown hair and a more casual look about him.

"You're looking for me, aren't you?" I said knowingly, brushing a stray strand of my dark brown hair away from my face, not keeping contact particularly with the tall one. My instinct told me to stay away from him for some reason.

"Yes, that's correct, my name is Charles Xavier and this is my colleague Erik Lensherr. May we speak with you, madame?" He answered me with a surprisingly delightful English accent. He waited like a gentleman to be invited a seat which I allowed, since I had to anyway as I couldn't turn away a customer or Gustof would have my hide.

"So, what are you-" I looked up after leaning down to put away a glass under the bar and fully looked into Erik's eyes and gasped.

I saw so much in his eyes when we made contact, it was almost unbearable, but I couldn't find the strength to tear them away. Erik had experienced the Holocaust first hand, and because of my own mutant abilities, I could see into his memories of it. I saw it as a curse because it occurred randomly sometimes when I wasn't focusing and tended to only be memories that carried tremendous pain with them. It wasn't always like that, but the bad times were more than enough to give me a bad taste for prying into the hippocampus of the brain.

Instinctively, I grabbed his hand to steady myself to not collapse from the mental pain I was experiencing, because I was involuntarily re-living his tearful memories during the war. I didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to myself, I was always very careful to not let people think I was some freak.

"You're a fellow _Land Mann_ , welcome back." I managed to say breathy, opting to not directly say what was on my mind.

 "How did you-?" Erik quizzically asked me, looking at Charles for the answer instead.

 He had a different kind of accent, it sounded like a blend of English and German. From this, Charles took his cue to take hold of the conversation so we didn't get lost in our own endless thoughts.

 "As you can see Erik, Ms. Braun has a very special ability. She can see people's most important memories, and can possibly do quite more. Can we talk in a more private setting? For obvious reasons, of course." His eyes scanned the room; even though the room was full of drunkards, this conversation was best held somewhere else.

 "Yes, of course, Mr. Xavier, just give me one moment!" I walked through the back door to Gustaf's office and told him I was taking off early since the place was pretty much dead anyways. He grumbled in reply as I grabbed my bag and headed out the door to meet the duo again.

Germany had become a different place since the steps to recovery had been made after the war, but I never felt it was the same. Sometimes I wondered why I bothered coming back...perhaps for nostalgia, but I found there was always an ache to truly feel at home. I had wandered aimlessly trying to find my place in the world, but since I had never met anyone else like myself, I felt right about jumping into the cab with the fascinating mutants. I just knew deep down I could trust these men naturally, and if they had less than sincere intentions, I would know.

 There was something reassuring about Charles, as if he was imparting feelings of serenity my way. Erik put off a more reserved attitude towards me as if he was not very trusting, causing me conflicting feelings because I immediately wanted to get to know him because of his past.

 " _Please, I am here to help and offer you a new way of life if you'll hear us out, Leah. One that will fill the void you have felt all these years_." Charles' voice resounded in my head, startling me as we walked out the front door.

 "Did you just say something in my head?" I nervously laughed, hoping I wasn't going insane, looking around me to see if anyone else heard what I said.

 "Yes, that's quite right. I'm what's called a telepath and can read minds. Erik can move magnetic objects, the power of magnetism. The reason why we sought you out is we're assembling a very special team this world has never seen before: one of our own kind." He opened the back door of his automobile and gestured inside.

I had no family left here, a thought that made me sad but nonetheless had never hindered me from going on with the fragment that was my life. I figured I had nothing to lose by following them further, even if there was a part of me that thought the turn of events was insane. Charles tapped on the rolled up window to signal the driver while I settled into the car, admiring the fancy upholstery I had never seen before. The little time I did get to spend with my own family, was not spent expensively in our home, that was for sure.

"Let's cut to the point, gentleman... why do you need me specifically of all the possible mutants in this world?" I crossed my arms, with a look on my face that said, 'I mean business'.

"I like her promptness, we're going to get along I can already tell." Erik said with a small smile creeping on his lips as he almost shyly looked over my way, then returned to his reserved facade. That definitely caught my attention, he was a sight to take in. It wasn't quite classic movie star looks by society's standards, but he couldn't be categorized by the average look you saw in everyday people either.

"I'm glad to hear that, but I doubt that will be so if I don't get a little more information about what's going on, _Lieblinge_." I crossed my legs, pressing to hear what they had to say.

"There is a very credible threat, one that is trying to start World War III. I kid you not." He knew I was having skeptical thoughts about the boisterous statement. I could hear the seriousness in his voice, so I dispelled any thoughts of doubt right away.

"I'm just a _Waise_ from Dresden, what can I do?" My voice was filled with an incredulous tone but little did I know how important I would later become.

"Your abilities are more powerful and potent than you think, Leah. When I found you, I had a strong reading emanating, you very well may have a lot of the power left unharnessed." Charles said as his eyes roamed casually out the window, until the car rolled to a halt at a hotel that was closer to downtown.

Erik stepped out first, lending me his cold hand so I could get out. I felt uncomfortable at taking it in my own again after sharing such a personal experience with him, so I averted my gaze. I decided to put it out of mind quickly so he wouldn't feel more alienated than I may already have made him feel at first. We strolled through a grandiose-looking lobby, filled with busy aristocrats and the few rich that still remained, probably to be the first ones to capitalize on the stagnant economy. The scars of a war torn country were still evident after seventeen years, the politicians just tried to mask it to make themselves look better.

We came to be at the fifth floor of the hotel and arrived at the door of a modest but well kept suite. I wondered how much money they had, because even if it wasn't expensive by American standards, it still was looked at as a luxury here.

"We really only just rented it for the day, hoping that when we left we'd have one more to join us on the jet tonight." Charles then started to go on about a maniacal man by the name of Sebastian Shaw.

I wondered why he was so keen on starting a war between America and Russia, coupled with Cuba that would set off a nuclear fallout if allowed to happen. It sounded like complete madness, and I could barely wrap my head around it.

 He perused the whiskey cabinet with his back turned to us while I set my eyes on the many books the suite had to offer along its shelves. Whether Xavier was willing to or not, I was ready to take a break from talking about all this morose ending of the world, start of a new order sort of stuff. He fixed us all drinks at a slow pace, allowing myself a break to pick through the books absentmindedly.

"I never really got the appeal of Huckleberry Finn. The southern dialect rather frustrated me, I could never understand why people spoke like that." Erik surprised me when he turned up close next to me with a copy of the classic Mark Twain book.

"While I've only been around the indigenous northern folk of New York, I can still respect the difference in dialect and particular accent. I suppose Americans might think our accents are funny too." I dared to look up to him, being that I had a shorter frame of about five foot three in American terms.

"You've lived in America? Ah, that would explain your natural German accent almost completely being gone, but I can still detect a little bit of it here and there." Erik mused putting the book back on its shelf.

"Yes, after the war, I was placed on a _Schiff_ to New York where I lived in orphanages for a few years. I'd rather not talk about that though." Those were the most difficult years I had to endure and I hated re-living them.

Being an orphaned German child in America so recently after the war was an unpleasant experience. We were unwanted because there was still so much hatred by the American's, but on top of that, all of my bad memories were felt ten fold.

Charles must have picked up on my thoughts, because when he came to us with our drinks, he placed a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. I took a seat by the window, observing the fall day turn closer to nightfall and looked up in eagerness at the two gentleman.

"So, when can we leave? I think I'd like a change in pace with this mundane lifestyle." I leaned forward a bit as the two sat attentively on the couch across from me.

"I always figured there were others like me, but in the times we've grown up in, I kept it to myself for my safety. I don't want to live like this any more, so if you can offer me something better, I'm in. Any way I can help!"

"That's what I like to hear, Leah! We have a jet waiting for us at the airport when you're ready. Do you have any more questions?" He asked like he didn't already know the answer to it, which made me smirk.

"Yes, well this is a little awkward, but may I borrow some money? I'm leaving everything here, and I don't mean to impose but living is hard these days for people like me. If I'm going to be involved in this, I need to know there is some security in it, apart from the obvious dangers it poses which I accept risk in." Most of my life had been dominated by outside forces, and I had hated the feeling of being out of control. I was always wondering how I would make it, to not struggle to thrive. The past seven years I had attempted the best I could to make things different, to move on.

"Yes, of course, Leah. I understand the things you've had to deal with and you don't have to worry about that. As long as you are in my care I can guarantee a home." With that, I smiled, for I felt that even though I had lost my natural family years ago, I might be able to make a new one, even amidst dangerous times.

X-x-X-x-X

Charles had gone out on an errand to meet up with fellow professors he knew because apparently he was an expert on gene mutation (go figure). He had just finished his thesis on it, which was an amazing academic feat, so he had some loose ends to tie up before he went on his sabbatical. This left only myself and Erik in the hotel suite to be alone with each other and our thoughts.

"You're a quiet one, are you not?" I asked him as I came out of the guest room, in a new set of clothes that had been conveniently placed in the wardrobe closet.

I figured if it was being offered, I'd love for once to get out of my worn out clothing and into something of better taste. Especially if I was going to be around Erik and Charles who weren't exactly modestly dressed. I wore a silk pencil skirt with a matching floral blouse and miraculously found my own shoe size, seven, (even though the American size usually isn't carried in Europe) that Erik immediately noticed. He strolled to the veranda door and opened it, gesturing me to follow him as he strolled out.

"Not exactly pretty, is it?" I implied how at least half the city was still rebuilding from the harsh bombings you could clearly see the results of.

"I wouldn't know if it ever was, my family resided in western Germany but you already knew that."

"Before I moved back two years ago, the last time I had seen this place was when it was in far worse condition. It's sad really." I turned from the ravaged landscape and pressed on with the conversation, ignoring it.

"So how did you come to meet Xavier, may I ask?" I crossed my arms, curious to hear more about how this all came to be.

"As much as it is to my chagrin, he saved me from drowning when I tried to stop Shaw. He was trying to escape in his submarine off the coast of Florida. I had been following his tracks through old acquaintances of his, while Xavier had just formed an alliance with MacTaggert in the CIA. It wasn't my wish for Xavier to get in the way. I almost had him." He didn't sound happy about the villain getting away.

"Fair enough, Mr. Lensherr. I don't question your power, I can sense it. It's not precise like how Charles knows, more like a gut feeling."

"Can you do more than that?" His eyes bonded to mine while inquiring into my abilities. Now, this I had to think about, because beyond my basic powers I hadn't attempted anything further.

"I suppose time can only tell as we all grow, moving on ultimately."

He averted his gaze when I caught him looking for too long and retorted, "I'm not exactly a people person, I've had my own difficulties adjusting to living a human life when I know I was meant for more. You were meant for more too, Leah." His gaze re-focused and caught my own with more intensity than I ever had seen with someone.

He was absolute in his statement, it made me want to take his word for it but I still had my own insecurities. Then again, I wasn't very sure about a lot of things in this world.

"How do you know that, Erik? How are we supposed to know what we're really meant for?"

"We have the evolved mutant gene, we were made to be the top of the food chain. We just have to take what we want, after all anything is possible for us." He made a motion with his hand towards a picture frame and brought it to his hands. It was a wonder to see, I really had never seen anything like it before! I smiled gleefully back at his little feat.

"That's nothing, I can do much more. Charles believes you can too."

"Like what, levitate?" I snorted at my own quip (my humor isn't all that up to par).

"I bet that you have hidden abilities, and I'd be more than willing to help you discover your true potential. I've never met another mutant that has been through similar things I have..." Erik gently put down the frame and turned his back to her.

"I guess we'll never know if I don't push it then, won't we?" There was a twinkle in my eye and smidgen of flirtation in my voice I discovered, surprisingly which I wasn't used to having.

For the next hour we sat on the veranda and played several rounds of chess. We were almost evenly matched, going back and forth to see who could best the other for some form of dominance. Charles arrived when the score was four to six and seeing that I had already rummaged through the wardrobe, confirmed that I was pretty much ready to go on this trek to New York.

"Ah, I see you've already made yourself welcome with the new wardrobe. I hope they fit you well. I didn't pick them so don't shoot the messenger if it's not your style!" He lightly chuckled to himself, I guess that was British humor.

"Everything in order _?_ " Erik curtly asked Charles, turning around to face the both of us. All three of us looked ready to finally leave Germany.

Two hours later, we stood in front of the most expensive machinery I will probably ever see in my life, no joke. This thing was top of the line kind of stuff; it was more than twice the size of my loft and looked very sophisticated. I was actually feeling giddy walking up the ramp, barely being able to contain my marvel. After preparation was complete, the jet lifted off and we were on our way out of Germany and through the rest of Europe onto a journey I would never expect.

 


	2. The other side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah meets Raven, Moira, Sean, and Armando once arriving in America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Können wir den Park wieder zu gehen= Can we go to the park again  
> meine süße= My sweet  
> Wunderbar= Marvelous   
> Deutschland= Germany

_ I was sitting in my room playing with my new dolly my parents had gotten me, it was my fifth birthday. It was such a wonderful day, my parents managed to take me to the downtown park which they'd never had the chance to do before. This was because of the recent increased restrictions placed on the Jews (my mother was born Jewish, my father was of English and German descent). _

_ "Mumma, Können wir den Park wieder zu gehen?" Mother is standing in the doorway now, beaming radiantly at me. Her soft, wavy long hair bounced in the wind from the open window. _

_ "I don't know when we can go again, meine süße Leah Rachelle. Papa and I will try sometime again, I promise." She kneeled down on the floor next to me, but I can tell something is wrong. Her face is secretly filled with apprehension, I sense. Papa then hastily runs up the stairs and urgently whispers to Mumma. _

_ "Nina, they are coming. We have to hide you before they take you away, Leah also. I don't know if they will want to take her." Papa's short brown hair is plastered in sweat to his forehead now, something is very wrong this time. _

I jerked awake as the jet hitched in turbulence and was actually thankful for it. I gripped onto my crash webbing nervously, unconsciously grinding my teeth until I realized I was not dreaming memory anymore. Even though it was a dream, the memory was vivid to every detail. It was like a plague I wished I could forget, but could not because of my ability.

"You alright back there? I apologize if you aren't used to this. Our scientist, Hank designed it, so it's fairly new. We'll be there in about an hour!" Charles reassured me. The sooner I set foot back in New York and off this jet, the better because I remembered I wasn't keen on being confined in spaces for too long.

As promised, an hour later the high-tech jet was landing at a remote facility; it definitely looked like something hatched by the American government. Erik came up next to me as I unbuckled and held his hand out and helped me up, since I had been sitting in the same position for quite a while. His hand grasping my own set my nerves to ease, and for that I was grateful.

"Thank you, I guess I wasn't feeling as up to the flight as I thought I'd be. Then again, this is a bit different from your average plane ride." A small smile played across my lips, I tried to hide it from him to show that I wasn't too eager for the personal contact. Every time I had the dreams I was left feeling lonely, so having Erik right there helped distract me.

"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, it's quite alright, I'm as modest as you are when it comes to these things." We were standing within a foot of each other, which almost made me feel uncomfortable for an odd reason but at the same time I preferred it. What was my problem? I've never paid any man a mention, I didn't really think I was meant for someone. I was damaged goods, simply put. I gathered my few belongings, trying to keep my best composure around him.

"Maybe you're right. Though, it doesn't bother me as much if I'm with someone I know." My voice betrayed flirtation, something I never did with anyone. Erik's eyes bore down into mine with interest, but before he could reply, Charles interrupted with a cough to get our attention that he was still around.

"There are others eager to meet you, Leah. Others particularly interested in seeing what you can do. Join me?" He held out his arm and led me through the cockpit to the main exit and let me go through first.

"I'm afraid ladies first, my friend." Charles kindly gestured me out with a wave of his arm.

I stepped out into the cool air of New York and walked down the landing ramp briskly, yet with some caution. The area was completely fortified with security and gates, not a soul would be able to get out, unless by some special means. Two highly contrasted people were ready to approach us. A tall, middle set man with black hair similar to Charles', and a younger woman with model good looks. She had wavy long hair like mine, except it was blonde and looked to be no older than about eighteen roughly.

"Hello Raven, I trust you stayed out of trouble with the rest of the bunch while we were gone?" He hugged the young blossom lovingly, while they didn't look alike, I could tell from their demeanor they were brother and sister.

"You know how I am Charles, but this place has been boring! No offense to Armando and Sean, but just sitting around waiting for you guys is not what I signed up for." She threw her hands on her hips playfully but cracked a smile, happy to see Charles again.

Her gaze fixed itself towards Erik, in obvious interest she said, "Hey, Erik. Get your beauty sleep so you're not such a grouch?"

"I am perfectly fine, Raven." His gaze averted hers then moved back to me, to her disdain.

"This the new recruit, Xavier?" The man in black asked, cutting to the chase in a busy manner. When he received a nod from the two, he took control of the conversation.

"Well, I hope she works out well. We don't have much time before the next mission starts. Welcome to Division X, the love child the CIA lets me have."

"We'll have the team ready in no time, chap." Charles placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and started for the main entrance of a tall building, with the three of us in tow.

"So how many more mutants are we looking for, Charles?" I wanted to know what the game plan was, that's for sure.

"There are about three more mutants of particular interest we have located using Hank's program Cerebro, with my added power."

"You can locate mutants all over the world?  _ Wunderbar _ ..." My voice was incredulous, this seemed otherworldly. We walked down a narrow corridor and met a pair of glass doors to a decently sized living room area.

"With the use of Cerebro, I can harness that power. Oh by the way, I forgot to introduce you to my sister, Raven. Ah well, you'll be introduced to the rest of the gang in about, now."

The only female sat at a desk in the far corner, immersed in paperwork. She looked like a government agent, and I could sense she was not a mutant immediately. She looked to be in her late twenties, (I guessed five years older than myself perhaps) and had straight, shoulder length dark hair. On the lounge sofa stood up a tall, lean man that looked like he was a native from the Caribbean islands possibly. The last was a younger man, of lesser stature and head full of ginger hair that looked less contained.

"Everyone, this is Leah Braun. Leah, this is Sean Cassidy and Armando Munoz. Moira works with the CIA and is the one responsible for bringing us all together." Charles warmly smiled at Moira as she turned to get up to come meet me.

"I've heard about what you can do, you're very good with remembering things I take it?" She took off her pair of glasses and stuffed them into her pocket, awaiting my answer.

"Well, uh, I'm not a genius by any means. I barely went through school!" I laughed nervously and wished I hadn't said that.

"I have excellent photographic memory and can remember just about anything put in front of me. I also tend to know somehow when I'm meeting a mutant." This was the first time I could go into detail about my own abilities and not have to hide them, so a sense of pride and belonging surged through me.

"Can you tell if I'm one?" She asked out of curiosity.

I lightly chuckled to myself, "No, you aren't one, but everyone else in this room is, but that's kinda obvious." I sent her a friendly wink to show I was in a light mood, so everything wouldn't seem so serious.

Raven chimed in to question my ability, I had a feeling that she might not altogether like me so much.

"Repeat this number!" She grabbed a pen and paper to write down all the numbers she began to say aloud to test me. "1723648529367438494858!" She obviously underestimated me.

"1723648529367438494858." I said it robotically in a medium pace, to show that I did not struggle with reciting the long code of numbers. Charles smiled his approval in a giddy academic sort of way while Erik and Banshee were definitely impressed.

"Damn girl, you're really good! Wasn't she, Darwin?" The two mutants mused to each other about my ability while Raven had a look of skepticism on her face.

"Well fine, you're good at that. Maybe later we'll all play 'show me yours'." (I guess that's some kind of game teenagers play, I don't want to know with what!), she stalked out of the room accompanied by Banshee and Darwin.

"It was nice to meet you, Ms. Leah. I look forward to being on a team with you." Darwin said, quickly shaking my hand before meeting back up with the other two young mutants that were exiting. Shaking his head in almost a comical show of dismay, Charles apologized for Raven's behavior.

"She can get jealous sometimes, but in the end she's just protective of me. We've been through alot together." I smiled, shrugging her actions off.

"It's fine, Xavier, I've dealt with worse before. I'm just glad to be here with all of you and happy to help in any way I can." With a more pressing tone in my voice, "These are serious times, I've been away from America for the past two years but I still know of the civil rights issues going on today.  _ Deutschland _ has not had to deal with such issues, but I think we had enough of that after he ruled." I wasn't really comfortable with saying Hitler's name out loud, never have been.

With that, Erik's face took on a shadow as he was turning away, I could see his fists were clenched. He did not like talking or hearing about Germany or especially Poland where the death camps were, and anything having to do with the war.

"Would you like me to show you to your room, Leah?" Moira welcomingly asked me to which I nodded.

Leaving I took note of Erik sitting at the bar, to drown his private sorrows away I felt I unintentionally brought back up. I would have to talk to him later, I felt compelled since we had this unspoken connection to one another. From how she acted around him, I bet Raven wished she had.


	3. Let it go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lassen Sie gehen und einfach sein= Let go and just be  
> Sitzen ganz still=Sit very still  
> Unwesentliche menschlichen=Insignificant human  
> Was soll ich tun=What would you have me do?  
> Lassen Sie los und nur mit mir sein=Let go and just be with me

The room I was led to was small by American standards, but I felt right at home. A queen size bed occupied the middle of the room with two tall windows on both sides, black drapes hanging down from the top. Two dressers lined against the left and right wall of the room were of moderate size, definitely more than someone of my financial status needed. I placed my luggage by the door of the bathroom and laid down on the comfortable bed.

Since I slept most of the ride over, I was at a loss for what to do. The sun would be setting in a couple of hours, maybe I would be able to hold off on falling asleep until later. A soft, yet firm knock sounded at the door, I gave the go ahead for the person to come in because I was too comfortable on the bed. I was pleasantly surprised to see Erik's figure in the doorway.

"I haven't been here for very long myself and Raven is already talking my ear off, trying to impress me for whatever reason. I thought that maybe I'd find some solace with you." His voice was impassive but I could still tell he was bored of the teenager and not interested.

He caught me blushing at the last part and stepped to the foot of the bed, "I have never met another like you. I feel...better being around you, like there is someone to relate to, if we're speaking plainly." I felt very vulnerable, laying on the bed, even with my elbows propped up I was still cut down to size in front of this man. Something about it intrigued and scared me at the same time.

"I know what you mean. Here, come sit next to me." I patted the bed eagerly. I had never shared my horrible experiences during and after the war with anyone before but I trusted him.

"I was an only child and had always wanted a little brother or sister. Mumma and Papa always tried to provide for me the best they could, but we lived sparsely at best. As you know, Germany didn't fare so well and a lot of people were affected naturally." I paused to clear my throat as a lump began to form. Re-living this was always hard for me, it was rare to have a night I didn't have to dream vividly about the past.

"My family was from Dusseldorf, so I'm not as familiar the part of Germany you're from, but we were affected also." There was some hesitation in his voice; he wanted to talk and vent about everything but something held him back. I tenderly touched his shoulder, emotion filling my face.

"Papa tried to defend my mother from them, but they didn't care. Even as I recall this, I'm plagued by the memories. What I have is a curse, Erik! I can't control it any more than I can control my breathing..." I couldn't help but hang my head in shame for the continued failures of my life. His strong hand caught my chin and lifted it up persistently.

"You're wrong, this is a gift, Leah! You are beautiful for what you are, inside and out. Mutants are the next step in evolution, can't you see? Only the strong survive, and we are one of them, I know." Erik's voice was vehemently determined to convince me otherwise.

"Erik, if you could take away the pain of it all, would you?" What I was really asking him would require a lot on my part.

"Sometimes I want to... then I remember if it weren't for Shaw I wouldn't be where I am today. The only thing I regret is my mother being killed. Shaw is responsible for that."

That's what it ended up being all about. Erik wanted revenge against the insane man.

"Let me try something with you. _Sitzen ganz still_." I was going to attempt to absorb his pain, something I had only done once but on a much smaller scale. I took a deep breath and centered myself, firmly grasping both of Erik's hands and looking intently into his eyes.

"I need you to open your mind to me. I want to help you." Confusion spread upon his face.

"By doing what? You can't possibly think you can take a memory away, do you?" He was closing up, so I just sat there, nervously looking away.

"No, I can't let you do that. I appreciate the selflessness, I really do but it wouldn't be right. I have to go, Leah." He started towards the door until I grabbed his hand.

"Wait! I did it once before; mother was feeling sad about something that had happened, so I just thought really hard about making it go away. When I touched her face, it was like I felt a power sapping the memory from her and bringing it into myself. Granted, that was on a much smaller scale, but I could try to do this. If I could take away my own pain and feel normal, I would. It's been a constant strain to not remember the death of my parents on top of other heinous things..." That wasn't exactly true, I just wanted to convince him to let me help him. He kneeled down and took my face in his hands sternly.

"If it didn't happen I wouldn't have arrived here, to my destiny. Everything was meant to occur for a reason, yet God does not guide us, we do for ourselves!" There was barely separation between us now, it was almost torturous; his eyes on fire, reciprocating the feeling. My mind's tight bonds loosened, however this time there were no horrible memories to assault my psyche. My lips instinctively parted as his moved closer to mine, and just as they were about to touch, someone came to the door looking for Erik.

"He-he's in here!" I got up to greet the person at the door, turning out to be a Division X agent requesting him for the man in black and also Charles.

"Ms. Braun, Mr. Xavier was hoping once you settled in that you'd be comfortable enough...with your new teammates." His thick New York accent was laced with disdain, I guess he didn't like the position he was given in the CIA.

Picking up on his lack of respect, Erik shoved past the man, taking me along by hand as he went, not caring the door hadn't been shut behind us.

" _Unwesentliche menschlichen…"_ Erik muttered to himself before catching his temper, while we briskly walked down the hall that was not far off from our destination.

"Just forget about it, he's not worth the words." I sympathetically said, nonchalantly slipping out of his grip to pat him on the shoulder.

The hallway converged into the main lobby where we came upon Raven lounging almost seductively across from a young man I hadn't met. He had black glasses on, looked roughly about Erik's height and had parted light brown hair neatly brushed aside. This must be the scientist behind all the technology, the madness if you will. He looked transfixed by her beauty while she seemed almost too willing to tease him with her long, tan leg being displayed over the leg of the couch. Ugh, I wish I could pull that sort of thing off. Only Erik's fake cough drew them out of their banter.

"Oh hey there old man, Hank and I were just getting to know one another. Hey lady." She nodded to the both of us and Hank automatically straightened up. Maybe her awkward interest in Erik had abated, now that young meat was in the picture.

"I'm Hank McCoy, resident scientist I guess you could say! You are...?" As he spoke he fumbled with his glasses and tried to smooth out his shirt, while trying to sound polite and professional.

"Leah Braun, and it's nice to meet you Hank, I really do admire your work." I sent him a warming smile to calm his nerves, which I think did because he stopped fidgeting with himself.

"Well, you seem alright, so I'll be on my way, shouldn't be too long." Without another word, Erik stalked off in the opposite direction we had entered the room through.

"So no code name?" Hank asked me as we sat down by Raven.

"Pardon?" I didn't quite understand what the hell he was talking about to be honest.

"A code name to go by to protect your real name. We've been playing around with ideas but haven't settled on anything yet." I wondered what Raven's would be. Now that I thought about it, I didn't exactly know what everyone's abilities actually were.

"I'll have to get back to you about that, I haven't given it thought. What can you guys do?" I leaned forward, curious to hear the answer.

"Oh, I don't know, what can _you_ do?" Raven said condescendingly, as her skin peeled back to a deep blue tone that was covered in a scale like texture. Her eyes morphed into a yellow hue and her luscious blonde locks were now shoulder length and crimson. Raven was a changeling, and I found a newfound interest in the young woman.

"Oh! How remarkable mutation is..." I marveled at the sight and pondered the possibilities with an ability like that.

"Well, don't get too envious, it hasn't been easy. If it wasn't for Charles, I don't know what would have happened to me." We spent the next few minutes idly chatting until Erik and Charles came back with an update on what was next.

"Tomorrow morning myself, Erik, and Leah will be travelling around for more students. Shaw is moving quickly so we don't have a lot of time to sit around." Xavier's eyes met mine last of the group, looking for approval that I'd be fine with tagging along.

"If that's all, I think I'm going to turn in. See you all later." Erik walked away in the direction of the hall I was staying in, which was odd because his room wasn't located in the same hall as mine.

"I think I'm going to follow suit. It would seem flying from Berlin has finally caught up with me." I shyly smiled and said my good night to the group and left.

Getting back to my room I noticed the door was left ajar, but I paid it no mind because I remembered not shutting it earlier. I slipped in and locked the door behind me, then absentmindedly took off my blouse heading into the closet. Attempting to unhook my bra, my fingers found and traced the scars that were lightly scattered around my back. They were just another result of the many injustices that are seen in this world, I reminded myself. I let my top fall to the floor and took off my stockings and uncomfortable heels, also leaving them a heap on the floor. I walked back into the bedroom and half shrieked when I saw Erik casually sitting in the corner chair.

"What the hell? How did you-?" At that moment I remembered that I was nearly naked and was sensitive about my back showing so I tried to cover up myself in vain. Complacently, I dropped the effort due to an eerily comfortable feeling I felt with Erik. I sat in the middle of the bed waiting for his reply.

"I wanted to see you again." Obviously his eyes were set on my thin curvy frame; it was only natural for a man to do but he did his best to keep contact with my eyes out of respect. Maybe he was losing his control I had observed he kept thus far. Maybe I was losing composure...this man was testing my boundaries.

"And why is that, Mr. Lensherr?" On my knees, I found myself edging to the end of the bed to see how he would reply, this was becoming like a game; it had to be or else he would have been way more straightforward with me earlier like usual men do. Mutant or not that is.

"Maybe it's a little biased, but it's hard to resist a beautiful _Frau_ from my home country. Especially one as special as you, Leah." He rose to his feet and stood in front of me.

Without touching me, he removed the necklace around my neck and levitated it to the night stand. I admit, his figure towering over me was intimidating...but I couldn't help but be transfixed by this man with a great power yet so much vulnerability I could appreciate.

My fingertips grazed the hem of his shirt daringly, still I was very nervous. I was lacking when it came to physical intimacy with men, but I wasn't completely unfamiliar. His left hand caught my right and raised it to his lips, lightly kissing it while the right lifted my chin to look up at him.

" _Was soll ich tun_?" I was unsure of myself, never in my life was there an encounter like this. My emotions betrayed me when he saw my eyes were watery.

" _Lassen Sie los und nur mit mir sein._ " He pulled me to my feet and cupped my face, his lips instantly meeting mine. It was the solution to a struggle that had been brewing since we first laid eyes on each other.

The kiss was deep, my hands wrapped around his back and up into his hair to grab a handful of his light brown tresses. Primal desire was ready to take over us, no doubt to make up for lost time resulting from our own prison's we held true in mind. A soft moan escaped my lips when Erik moved to place feverish kisses up and down my neck. I started to pull off his suit jacket and unbutton his shirt beneath it in response. Just for once, my mind wasn't muddled with thoughts as I pulled him onto me, falling back onto the bed.

Erik held himself at elbow length over me, his fingers gingerly touching my face. We stopped for a moment and our gazes automatically met with unspoken connection. No words needed to be said. I didn't want to anyways, for once in my life I was allowing myself just to feel and I think he was too. While we held ourselves to a standard around everyone else, this was not the time to hold reservations.

His hands stretched around my back to cradle me and I immediately recoiled to his surprise. Apparently he hadn't seen my bare back before, so he was confused as to why I shrunk away shyly. I rose to sit on the edge of the bed and showed it to him without any word of explanation.

"Who did this to you?" His voice was composed but the impression he portrayed was murderous to the responsible, as if he could.

"After the war, I spent the rest of my childhood in an orphanage mostly. The nuns were not so kind. There was one particular member that was a little too fond of lashings with a ruler. I was raised Jewish by my mother, putting me at odds with their belief system, even though I was developing a more secular humanistic approach to life." I kept my back turned, I was afraid to let him see my face.

"I learned corporal punishment in Europe can be much crueler than how it may be here. I felt compelled to try to defend myself to them. They were...very hard on me until I could find passage to America." A lump formed in my throat. I turned to see how he would react to my story.

"This is precisely why I loathe humans! I know this can't take away what's been done to you but I will make things right, and we'll be the ones laughing in the end. We're the top of the food chain now, I assure you." His hand gently explored the faint scars as his eyes searched mine for approval to what he said.

"Maybe you're right, maybe not. I don't know how I feel about all this! A few days ago I was working for a guy named Gustaf. Now I'm here with you, with something bigger than us hanging over our heads. I'm just trying to wrap my head around that for now." I calmly retorted back to him.

"When I look back, my life hasn't amounted to very much; after the war I drifted around and have never felt satisfied. I didn't feel it because of the man responsible for killing my mother." Erik's voice grew smaller, a quiet darkness simmering.

Talking about his mother in such a vulnerable manner kicked my ability into full swing. My keen eyesight zoomed into the very center of his iris and was taken into his memory. My being was an invisible force, although I was aware in real time I was still sitting with Erik. There was a room occupied by two Nazi guards, a man with glasses sat at a desk in the center and a brown haired boy stood helplessly in front of him.

 _"Hello, I'm Dr. Schmidt, and I'm a scientist and I am very interested in what I saw you do to those gates. Now, Erik, I want you to move this coin for me."_ When Erik timidly shook his head in protest, the man told him he knew he had the power to. He nodded to the guard and a moment later a woman who looked very weathered and scared was dragged in. A panicked look spread across Erik's face when he pointed a gun at her head.

 _"Do it. Now or she's dead."_ Erik raised his hand to the metal pieces and tried in vain to move them. When he failed to do so, he simply shot her without a second thought. She slouched down to the floor, blood gushing from her head. I clenched my jaw, knowing the horror of Erik's powers were about to unfold.

 _"AHHHHHHHHHH!"_ He screamed, blind rage dictating destruction. The guards were alarmed and unsure of what to do, but the madman hushed them. He just continued smiling gleefully as if he was creating his own evil. The rage and grief did not easily abate, he subdued anything made of metal beyond repair, including the helmets worn by the soldiers.

 _"Yes, that's what I want to see, my pet!"_ His maniacal laughter grew louder as the boy screamed in frustration until finally breaking down.

I tore away from my trance-like gaze bonding my mind to his and gasped. Every time I peered into someone's memories, there was no going back from it. It became etched to my own, which is why I steered clear of doing it to protect my psyche. By taking in that part of his memory, I was absorbing some of his pain as a result, we both came to realize it was evident.

Part of me wanted to break down but I knew to be stronger than that, it was his memory after all. Who was I to break down when he had been the one to live with it for so many years? Witnessing it through a memory paled in comparison to the years he had harbored the pain. I found myself wrapping my arms around his neck, not just to console him for his mother...but for all of the suffering we shared together.

"You didn't have to do that. I don't want you to have to feel my pain, Leah." His concern rang true from his voice to the expression I saw on his face when I reeled back to face him.

"We've both lost our parents. I was lucky though, the Germans who lived next door to us saved me from the death camps until the war was over. But, we need to be able to put this behind us." I wiped a silent tear away from the corner of my hazel eye before it threatened to drop.

"Will you stay with me? It would be nice to not be alone for once in my life, I think." I reached over to the chair on the other side of the bed and wrapped myself in a robe as I lay tired on the bed.

"It beats Raven trying to sneak into my room naked, so why not?" Though not very funny, it made me smile for he was trying to lighten the mood.

I threw my skirt across the room and slipped under the covers awaiting him to get ready to sleep with me. Without taking his eyes off of me, he took his slacks off with only his boxers on, then easily found his way next to me under the covers. This felt like home for the first time in I couldn't actually remember and that felt great.


	4. Half the man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik and Leah get very physical with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nicht zu stoppen= Don't stop  
> Liebling= Darling  
> Wollen Sie das?= Do you want it?

I turned over restlessly to face Erik's sleeping form who seemed at peace. I would have been at peace too in a slumber, but the dreams plagued me again. I had just barely managed to not scream waking up so I wouldn't disturb him. Sleep refused to befall me so I got out of the bed and tip-toed to the bathroom to get a glass of water. I looked into the mirror and grabbed a handful of my tangled and slightly wavy hair, sighing to myself.

When I returned to the bed I tenderly touched Erik's face and unintentionally absorbed fragments of a very recent memory. My vision was slightly murky, as if I was looking at a photograph that had been burned around the edges and had to strain my eyes to see what was before me. Erik sat in some sort of pub, obviously not an American or European one. He wore a white polo and a pair of tan slacks, sitting at a table with two men drinking what looked like German beer. When the memory flickered to the next point, I felt clouded with an aura of calm anger exuding from Erik and shuddered uneasily. I knew what would happen next. The two men sitting at the table with him had obviously been Nazi's, all logic pointed to this.

" _My parent's didn't have a name. It was taken away from them, by pig farmers and tailors._ " Erik's accent was perfect with dead clarity, they clanged their beer glasses and drank with a tense silence hanging in the air. Erik was here for revenge. Another flash took me forward twenty seconds later, after Erik had just revealed his arm with the haunting numbers that had branded him a slave to the likes of terrible men.

He easily overpowered the two men and sent a knife flying into the terrified bartender shouting at him with gun in hand. I was horrified and intrigued at the same time to witness this kind of violence but wondered how he had the courage to hunt down the people who caused him anguish. I had never sought justice for the wrongs done to me, so this was an entirely new concept I was captivated by. I was abruptly pulled out of the memory when Erik woke up and firmly shook me from my trance.

"I'm sorry, I'm tired and wasn't focused when it happened!" I almost frantically said in defense, hoping he wouldn't be furious for probing his memory again.

"There are some things you should and shouldn't see from my past, Leah." He looked me in the eyes to convince me even though I knew otherwise. I shifted in his embrace to a more comfortable position and answered him, "What was it like to...to kill them?" I hesitated.

"It's like everything has been made right. Like how things are supposed to be, justice. Yet everything is still not yet been made right, there's still one man I'm after. I told those men I was Frankenstein's monster and I was looking for my creator. I'm going to kill him." There was no remorse and a part of me didn't blame him, but my reason also screamed against it.

"What does Charles think of what you did?" I curled up into a ball, eyes wide open.

"Naturally he knows because he's a telepath,but he's not one to judge. He doesn't approve of what I've done though."

"He could never understand like we do. I don't blame you for what you did, Erik." I shifted my body weight to naturally press up against him as his hands roamed down my sides and my own found his bare chest.

"I don't usually prefer violence but I couldn't help but be a little bit fascinated by what you did to those men. I felt eerily satisfied they got what was coming to them! Is there something wrong with me? I can't help this feeling you keep giving me. What should I-"

"Kiss me."

He cut me off mid sentence with a searing kiss of passion while enveloping me in his crushing embrace I welcomed. I raised one hand to touch his jaw as our tongues met in a fiery battle of will, his winning because I lacked the strength, cursing myself for. His hands soon were roaming all that he could reach over my body as I grinded my body up against his in earnest. This man was driving me wild and I could not, no, would not let him rule my heart I wanted to say. It is so hard to attach yourself to something like love and passion when it has been lost to you for so long.

"Do you-?" Uncertainty was in my voice, it's not like I had been pined after by many men in my twenty five years so I had to ask for sure how far he intended to take this.

" _Liebling_ , you don't even have to ask." He loomed over me, pushing my back against the pillow and continued kissing my lips, this time more tenderly to savor the moment. I drank every bit of him in with his lips, I was intoxicated. I knew trying to keep up my emotional walls was not helping me in any way, it tore me up inside.

"I do need you. Now." I whispered into his ear, finally letting my inhibitions drop.

Feeling his hard length yearn to press against me when I arched my back, I unhooked my bra and easily tossed it aside. My breasts weren't covered up by being pressed against his chest for long though, he rose up to take off the remnants of his clothing while I anxiously lay in wait. My sight took in his whole body and reflected a hunger I had stored up within me since I first laid eyes on him.

"Come here." I laced my fingers around his neck, pulling him down upon me again to taste more of his mouth.

His fingers trailed around the edge of my satin panties and lingered, waiting for my approval which I gladly gave. Erik trailed kisses on my neck, biting and sucking lightly, working his way down and around my breasts next. My body writhed, impatiently needing Erik to complete our union.

"Wollen Sie das?" A sexy and teasing smile played across his lips even though he already knew the answer. He continued his escapade of kisses down my abdomen until he reached his destination and gave up his game for a direct approach.

"Enough of that..." I came to the same conclusion he did when he yanked my panties right down my legs, pushing my thighs open, poised for the entrance. Our eyes connected as his solid length joined with my heated, wet core and I felt filled to the brim immediately. His motions were consistent and at a slow pace at first but once we fully adjusted he pumped into me faster. I wrapped my legs around him, my hands running through his brown tresses, trying to hold on as a climax worked its way.

This was not any usual sex that I've ever had, this was on a completely different level. Maybe it was because we were both mutants, or maybe it was because of our emotional connection; probably a mix of both. My experience was only limited to boring humans with mundane ways of acting they called living, Erik was so much more! I was starting to have a feeling there really was more in this world than meets the eye and this was only the start.

"Erik...don't stop." I moaned into his ear when his thrusts became more powerful, driving as deep as they could into my center. I had to put my hand over my mouth for fear of being heard, my whole being felt like it would shatter.

He pulled back slightly and had a crooked grin on his face in satisfaction, "Once I start, it's hard for me to stop." His mouth found mine again, his lips gracefully landing. Before my concentration ran rampant again, I decided to switch it up by rolling us with myself on top. I gave him a temptable smile and teased him a full sight of my body that I partially hid with my arms.

"You're beautiful, Leah. You don't have to hide from me. Never with me." He raised his upper body up with me still in his lap and brought his hand firmly to my face as we kissed again, beginning to rock back and forth. Our pleasure began to build up again in unison I felt, his breathy moans escaped into my ear that made me arch my back in reply.

" _Nicht zu stoppen!"_ I cried out fervently, wanting an endless supply of bliss to hit that was no doubt very soon to come.

My hands gripped tightly onto his muscular shoulders to brace for the ultimate nirvana to hit that kept building up for the two of us. Hips met equally in rhythm to meet in time, hungrily wanting more, even as the orgasm finally came full blow. Several waves of it made me clutch onto Erik, needing his touch more than ever. His peak hit a second later with a shattering moan split between us, the pleasure that had been held back for so long almost unbearable. The orgasm probably lasted less than a minute but time felt like it went on for an eternity. I came back to reality when I found my head practically slumped against his shoulder as his arms were circled around my back.

"That was...unbelievable, Erik." I let out a breath and laughed lightly.

"To say the least." We straightened up and untangled ourselves to lay under the sheets but found ourselves close to one another again. I rolled to my side to face him and looked into his steel blue eyes I was beginning to adore.

"I'm tired but don't want to sleep now, it seems I have a dilemma Mr. Lensherr!" I couldn't hide the smile that spread across my face, my cheeks growing a rosy red.

"Well, Ms. Braun, unfortunately we are going to have to because we have a long day ahead of us, so I suggest you turn around so I can hold you." He said with a cool reserve nonchalantly as if we hadn't just had the most amazing sex I had ever had in my life.

"Right you are." I turned the opposite direction so my back was covered by his chest, his arms around me again. We were definitely spooning as the Americans called it. It took less than five minutes to fall into a comfortable slumber I no doubt had never had before but none the less welcomed, this time with no dream memories to haunt me.

I woke up to an empty bed the next morning, this I did not expect and when I found that I thought this, I mentally kicked myself for being so attached already. No note had been left as I looked around the room, just my clothes in disarray around the room.

I put it out of my mind as I took a hasty shower in order to meet up with Charles, Moira, and Hank on time within the hour. I chose a simple black short sleeve shirt to match with a gray sweater and threw on the first pair of casual jeans I could find out of my bag. I blow dried my hair, then let it remain naturally wavy it usually was. Nine thirty was the time I met up with Charles in Hank's main office, without Erik in sight yet.

"Ah, Leah darling, happy to see you. We were just talking about you. Hank was curious to learn more about you and your abilities." Charles started towards me but then stopped, he must have sensed something had happened with Erik last night. He was sensing a little too much for my comfort, I pressed in my mind so he'd back off the probing.

"It's not that much really Hank, but I'd love to chat more about you. I heard you graduated _how_ young?" We started a short conversation on his credentials but I got distracted when I saw Erik finally enter the room, not particularly saying anything to me or giving me any acknowledgment. He spoke with Charles about using Cerebro to locate the next mutant while I tried to keep my rising anger in check to stay focused on the conversation. It was growing increasingly difficult as he ignored me, just like nothing had happened last night, the nerve.

"I hate to cut this short Hank, and this is all very fascinating, but I was wondering is there a gym somewhere here? I'd really like to unwind a little bit, not to mention get into shape." If he was going to ignore me in shame of the turn our relationship had taken, I was going to have none of it, I was getting out of there definitely. Or maybe I was just being insecure, but getting some exercise would get my head together.

I quickly retreated to my room and changed into more appropriate clothing before heading to the gym, ready to punch more than just a few bags to get my frustration out in the best way possible. I started a mix up of kicking and punching and within a few minutes a bead of sweat was already trickling down my forehead. As I was mid punch, the bag lurched out of the way, forcing me to miss my punch. When I looked up I saw what held the bag up to the ceiling was a chain of metal. No doubt Erik's doing in making me miss.

Without turning, I asked out loud, "What is your deal Lensherr?" I exhaled a big puff of air out of exhaustion and agitation.

"I apologize. I'm not exactly comfortable with public displays of affection. Then there's also the degree of professionalism to be had." He stepped through the doorway he had been standing in and was probably hoping my wrath would not be too terrible, so he kept his distance.

"Come here." When he arrived, I slapped him in the face, then accepted his apology.

"Don't pull that crap again. I'm not just someone you can play around with, then disown. That's not how this works, I'll tell you that. If you have a problem then let me know now before things go further. I am a lady and will be treated as such. That's what my mother always told me and I'll stand by it."

His hand instinctively found the spot I slapped but instead of becoming angry, he smiled wickedly, bordering contempt for putting him in his place. He slyly walked out without another word; what kind of game was he trying to play with me this time?

"Hey, get back here you bastard!" I followed him and soon realized he was headed to the dormitory hall, passing by Armando and Sean who quizzically yet cautiously looked on as they could see I was steaming.

"I would not want to mess with her right now, Sean." I heard Darwin whisper to the younger man's ear as we passed by in a rush.

"Where do you think you're going mister!? You better not go to your room, or so help me I will-" I thought he was going to continue past my room to his own, so instead of following him I stormed into my own.

Well, apparently his plan wasn't to go to his room, but trick me into going into mine. Before I realized, he had practically slammed the door shut behind him and caught me in an embrace I fought at first.

"No, you don't get me like that. You can't just do that!" I half spoke and yelled to his face, in an anger that had lain dormant for years, I had hidden.

In a blur he picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and almost slammed me against the wall my back met with. My rear end met with the dresser next to the bed and for a second I just stared at him, a mix of emotions running through me, all too primal, no doubt he shared also. We then clawed at each other's clothes like animals, so eager to go all the way. Our shoes and clothes were quickly discarded with no regard to where they landed when our lips crashed, in a fierce battle to see who could win.

The anger I had had turned to relish; I loved the fire he stirred within me! It banished all the cautiousness I had summoned for myself over time, and replaced it with more courage to stand up for myself.

When we parted, my lips trailed to kiss and nibble at his neck, I bit down hard. A low growl in protest resounded in his throat, he responded tightening hold on my body and moaning approval. His hands moved up my torso to roughly grab my breasts while I continued to let my tongue roam over his skin. When Erik grew impatient he threw me onto the bed with what looked like barely any effort and climbed on top of me.

"Enough toying with me little one. I want you now." His breathing was slightly labored by all the activity but this did nothing to hinder his mission.

"Ha! Me, toying? I think you've got the roles mixed up. And I'm not that little." My voice was defiant now, part of me hoping he would rise to the challenge to prove me wrong.

He did when towering over my body and drove his hard, long length into me without warning. I moaned in pleasant and painful surprise at the same time, loving what he did to me. He held himself up over me, I admired the fine contours of his arms by running my hands up and over them. In and out, he thrust into my womanhood as deep and hard as he could. Oh, how I would probably be sore afterwards!

I could tell his arms were growing tired, so I coaxed him to roll over onto his back so I could take control, he was clearly reluctant to give over to me. I straddled him and moved with speed on top, now with the ability to control his pleasure. I ground my hips front to back, driving myself onto him. His hands grasped my hips and guided me to bliss as I came and almost yelled out his name. I collapsed onto his chest to catch my breath, forgetting that he was still inside me and there was more to come.

Before the weak feeling in my knees had time to subside, I was flipped to lay on my belly and entered from behind, filling my essence that had me building up another orgasm. One of his hands gripped my behind, while his other reached around to do circles on my clit that made me go crazy, barely being able to hold myself up anymore. He entered me several more times fast and hard before pulling out to complete his release.

"Spending the morning away from you did not make me happy. I've been thinking about doing that to you, to be honest." He laid down on the bed next to me, leisurely placing his hands behind his head.

"I'm happy to oblige you, but Erik...well you know you didn't pull out before, Erik." I was usually very responsible because I didn't see myself as capable of being the mothering type, but last night was a different story.

"You need not worry about that. The experiments rendered me highly unlikely of being able to produce children." Erik looked off, begrudgingly trying to hide his emotions on the subject.

I propped myself up on my side and traced lazy circle's on his skin. To distract him from the frustration of that statement, I jested at the possibilities that would bring, not having the responsibility of children.

"Oh, shit! What time is it? We have a plane probably waiting for us now!" I realized in my earlier distracted state talking to Hank, he had mentioned we had the coordinates for the next mutant we were going to locate.

I got up and put back on my original outfit of the day and threw his pants at him, hastily trying to get ready again on time. We met back up with Charles as requested at his dorm and patiently awaited him to come to the door.

"Well, I see you two are...in top shape ready to go! So while you were away, I went ahead and took the liberty along with Hank, to get the plane ready for our next stop." He shifted awkwardly for a second he had been at a loss for words until they came to him to describe the situation between Erik and I.

"So, who are we after now?" Erik ignored the staleness in the air and pressed on with the task at hand.

"Well, his name is Alex Summers..." and so my day began, mutant recruiting with a group of people I was slowly warming up to.


	5. For a pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic

"Tell me again, why is this boy locked up?" I asked Charles as I sat down in the passenger seat behind the pilots chair, securing myself with the seat belt.

"He feels he is a danger to those around him. What I got from the reading's and my own intuition was his mutation has to deal with emitting blasts of plasmatic energy."

"Sounds like a valuable asset to our team against Shaw." Erik added to the conversation.

The jet ride was not long actually, turns out the government has a secret little base in Virginia off the coast for experiments and holding top secret, high-level prisoners. When we landed, we were met by a security guard that looked flustered that we were there.

"Who are you? You don't have any clearance here that I know of!" Just as Charles was about to take care of the situation, I took the opportunity to put myself to good use.

"It's okay Charles, I have this." I took a breath and narrowed down my focus to reach out mentally to the guard and project false memories to convince him otherwise.

"But you were given our clearance, I think you forgot. Sergeant Smith gave it to you right before we landed." I had rifled through a recent memory of his to figure out who the superior's name was and then sent it back to him to make him think he had been given our security code; it was one of my powers that I had activated selectively over the years, if it was to my benefit.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry ma'am, my mistake! Right this way!" He nervously bowed in submission to his 'error' and led us through an entrance to a elevator.

" _Good job_!" Charles sent into my mind with no one else to hear, I replied by giving a satisfactory smirk. Erik squeezed my hand in approval, which caused me blush.

"It is odd though, Burt slipping up like that." Charles made idle chat with us (apparently that was the man in black's name) while waiting for the elevator to reach it's destination. When the doors opened, the guards superior popped out of virtually no where to block our passage down the rest of the hall to our chagrin.

"Why did you let them through? I haven't received any clearance for this!" Smith was clearly agitated for the lack of protocol, but we didn't really care.

"Sergeant Smith, it's all right, you-" Before I could continue, another man that stood by the wall next to a phone connected to it, interrupted us saying we were good to go. I guess Bert was just running behind and we were too hasty to leave base before telling him.

"Right then, we'll be on our way to Mr. Summers cell block then." Charles went past them without waiting for further approval, with us in tow.

We were then greeted by an agent who unlike the other personnel, got to wear his own suit of his choosing, and sported a pair of glasses.

"I've never met someone who prefers to be in solitary confinement, but more power to him if he wants to be a martyr." He nodded to the man standing guard in front of the last cell and he opened it to reveal merely a young man.

I had expected to see a hard up criminal type much older to be sitting there, but this was the complete opposite. Alex Summers appeared to be no older than legal adult age in the states, but there was still a boyish charm to his blonde features. His youthful appearance baffled me as to why he'd be locked away.

"Facades can be deceiving Leah, lest you forget." Charles actually didn't have to read my mind this time, you could see the disbelief registered on my face.

I shook myself out of it and decided he was right, that kind of thinking could end up costing me in the long run. It was better to always expect the unexpected. I stepped into the cell and let Charles and Erik take the lead, extending the olive branch of good will with a warm look on my face.

"What makes you think I want to be back in society where I have to hide and worry if I'm going to hurt people? You guys have some nerve coming here expecting what you do." Alex was automatically on the defensive when Charles tried to explain the situation; not a good start particularly when you're in a confined space with a ticking time bomb.

"There are more important things going on than you throwing a pity party for yourself, young one." Erik retorted back challenging him, not letting Charles reply in time.

"You'll be the one who'll want a pity party when I'm done with you, buddy." He stood toe to toe with Erik, obviously heated so I took the liberty to step in between them.

"Now, now, boys let's just settle down shall we, please? Alex, I'm sorry for the intrusion, we mean no respect coming here...but we need help." Maybe it was because I'm a woman and they didn't want me to get hurt if a fight did break out, but the two backed off each other and Alex sat down resigned to listen to my plea.

"If you really want to protect your family hun, it would be in your best interest to join us. Plus, you'll get to meet others like you, your age and make good use of your power. Isn't that what we should all be doing?" I plopped down next to him and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, my intent and concentration to persuade him very clear. He nodded in approval at my point that made more sense to him than the case Xavier brought about.

"Well, when you put it in those terms I guess you're right, lady. I mean uh, Leah!" He fastened his hand on top of mine then looked down with an odd expression in his face. A second later Charles and Erik had noticed something striking as well that I obviously did not, so I looked down.

"Your fingertips! What are you doing?" Alex incredulously asked me. When my attention cast downwards, to my shock I saw what they did.

A plasma-like static was emanating from my fingertips! I got up in a hurry and almost tumbled over my own feet, endeavoring to get away from what was happening; what shouldn't be happening to me. I shook my fingertips violently to snuff out the static and succeeded before it grew.

"Interesting mutation you have there. We'll have to talk more about it when we get back to Hank's lab." The professor strode out of the cell without another word. I searched Erik's face for any inclination into what he was thinking, but he kept a cool reserve in front of the youngster with reason.

"Well, let's get going! We have two more people to go see and we're on a tight schedule." With all eyes on us, we exited quickly and boarded the jet for the ride back. Thirty minutes later I sat in the small cabin deep in my own thoughts.

What the hell had transpired back there? That was something I had never done before and was well out of my realm of powers that I had known of. I furrowed my brow in concentration to try to reproduce the effect to experiment. To my dismay, when I really tried, the slightest little spark flickered at one of my fingertips, but left me breathless and kind of dizzy.

"If that leaves you about to pass out, I'm not sure if I want to see you try anything more powerful." Erik stood poised with his arms crossed, a concerned inspection on his face. I took a breath to steady myself and gathered my composure to answer him.

"I think I could get used to whatever this is, but what's bothersome, why after all these years? My power first manifested when I started living in the orphanage and that was so long ago, I didn't think there was anything else to develop."

"Charles says mutation is a continuous process. I know the level of my powers is still growing as I progress in life." He took a place next to me and covered his hand with mine.

"Am I going to be like Raven? I don't want to be continually changing. It must be tough to be her." He gathered me up into his arms to console me. I raised my head up level with his face and peered into his blue eyes for answers but found little.

"I'd love to just be in bed with you instead." He remained silent, then I remembered that Erik still had a vendetta to complete which made me frown.

"But you're thinking about getting to him aren't you?" I broke the embrace and turned away from his stare.

"When I do he's going down. You must know that that's my first priority, Leah. I've been planning this for years and I won't stop for anything." He was unrelenting in his objectives; with no way to convince him otherwise.

"I know what he did to you; I've seen it all when your memories became embedded into mine. But maybe I won't fully be able to understand until I see him for myself." I circled back in his direction.

"You'll meet him face to face sooner than you realize. Things are moving fast, so you must be prepared. We'll probably start training soon. I bet you'll become a feisty little fighter in no time darling." He winked at me, so I forced my worries away. The reality was that even though there were facts about Erik that I didn't altogether agree with, there was still something tying me to him, like a gravitational pull.

Two hours later we were entering Division X again and I was hoping for a nap which was very possible since we wouldn't be leaving again until the evening. Instead, I was sidelined by a number of things, one most important: what was going on with my abilities.

"Who's the ginger supposed to be?" Alex rudely inquired about Sean, in his own curious kind of way.

"Let's just say you don't wanna _hear_ from me what I can do, but you go ahead and call me Banshee." The freckle faced teenager sent a wink my way as he shook hands with the blonde newbie.

"Leah, I'm ready for you now." Hank appeared in the lounge holding a clipboard of scientific data full up with many lines about the blood I just gave. We dismissed the two youngsters to chat with each other to continue our own conversation in private without Charles and Erik present.

"I analyzed your blood and found that while it was similar in structure to Raven's it also appeared to be like the average strand of mutant DNA, which was a bit of a contradiction." He pulled up a seat at the table that hosted a microscope with the sample of my blood under the lense.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I was never too bright with science. I was more of an English major if anything at all.

"With further analysis, I combined your blood with a sample of my own blood. What I saw was very interesting. Here, just see for yourself." He added a drop of blood from a separate vial to my own and ushered me to look.

I leaned forward and pressed my right eye over the eyepiece and stared in wonder. What it looked like was one distinct group of cells were absorbing another when they made contact (definitely not mitosis I'll tell you that) but I couldn't ascertain if this was a good or bad thing.

"Can I...absorb things?" I asked the genius with a level of uncertainty.

"From what I heard went down earlier today, it would seem you can absorb abilities but I can't say whether it's permanent or temporary. It really is too early to tell. You said that it stopped working shortly after?" He removed his glasses to re-examine the blood sample as I spoke to him.

"It was maybe fifteen minutes later when I was in the cabin. I had to concentrate really hard to get it to come back, and only the tiniest bit came out of a finger, so maybe it is a temporary thing." I didn't really care at that point whether it was impermanent or not, I just wanted some answers from someone official like Hank.

"That makes sense with the theory. But, for the most part what's happening with you will have to manifest itself with time...I suggest you meet with Charles about this; I think he could help uncover the answers. He is a telepath after all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to make some adjustments to the Blackbird before you guys fly back out again today!" He administered a polite nod and walked busily to his next destination, leaving me in a thoughtful process.

I meandered the halls searching for Xavier and soon discovered him when I tapped on his door, his voice piercing through it to come in, leaving the door open ajar.

"I need you to read my mind, do something to let me know what's going on with me Charles, please." Within that sentence I reached the victorian style couch he resided on and sat down next to him pleading.

He chuckled and grabbed my hand, "Deep down I think you already know the answers sweetheart, but I will see."

"Thank you! So what do we do?" Relief flooded my voice to hear some form of reassurance.

"Just stay still and let me concentrate on your mind and open up to me." I relaxed my back to the sofa and let him concentrate. About a minute later he came out of his trance with the answers.

"You have always had the ability to absorb things. Your natural ability to absorb memories and preserve or alter them was just the base ability that evolved from it because of your circumstances. That will always stick with you no matter what, there is no way of changing that. Any other ability you may absorb is secondary. I suspect that you need physical contact and concentration to be able to absorb someone's ability and judging from what happened earlier today, it only works temporarily. I want to try something, I want you to attempt to absorb my ability."

I sat there dumbfounded by the barrage of information sent my way and snapped out of it for the sake of experimentation. I grasped both his hands and took a deep breath, fully concentrating on the task at hand. I reached out to try to grasp onto anything and came up with nothing. I gasped out loud when I ran out of breath to draw on and to no avail I accepted, breaking off.

"I can't, it's too much! It's like there's this infinite wall up regardless of whether or not you purposely put it there. Now that I think about it, when I was with Alex it felt like there was something there but it was much lighter, yet still a restriction."

"You mean, the barrier to his power wasn't as hard to reach but there was still a restriction to the level that you could attain, which is why it was only those little wisps of static!" Realization was dawning on us now.

"But there's still the question of why all of the sudden this is happening now? Why has it taken more than ten years to manifest out of no where?" I sat there puzzled, pondering if he could come up with the answer to that one.

"You mentioned before Erik and myself we're the only mutants you had met?"

"Something like that, yes. What would that have to do with anything?"

"It is possible that your powers lay hindered for years because of the lack of interaction with other mutants. When you aren't around something that you can absorb, there is no natural growth. With training and focus, I think you will grow exponentially in capability to absorb bigger and greater things." He conveyed impression, no doubt, he was a professor on genetic mutation after all!

"As if I'll ever be able to attain your level!" I scoffed at the idea. "I was out of breath just trying to reproduce what I got from Alex!"

"That's because your mind was closed from it and you had no idea what you were doing. Would you let me?" He gestured his hand to his temple waiting for my permission.

Hell, if it helped me develop my powers to be what I was born to be, then why not? I was in a brave new world and would require all the tools I could get. My head started to feel lighter but not in the dizzy kind of way; more like a fog was starting to lift from an endless abyss that was my mind. I closed my eyes to mentally see a better picture and come clarity, there was! I giggled in a delight that I had not really felt before in my life.

"Wunderbar! You really are Charles. Do you mind?" I signaled to the wine bottle that sat adjacent on the table and grabbed a glass out of my own excitement to celebrate.

"Now, Leah, I didn't unlock everything, the rest is up to you to figure out but I am very proud of the steps you are taking!" He grasped my shoulder reassuringly and gave me a warm smile that looked almost devilish to me, but I knew better to expect he meant anything by it.

I had already caught a glimpse from Charles he took a fancy to Moira, so I knew he was just being a good person, no ulterior motives attached. We toasted and settled back against the sofa comfortably next to each other sipping our glasses conservatively when Charles broke off.

"Oh, that's interesting." His brow creased and he made an awkward face getting up from the couch to my puzzlement.

"What's wrong?" I moved my hands outward, implicating I had no idea what he was talking about.

"You might want to go speak with Erik. I think he got the wrong idea about this." He placed his hands in his pockets with an apologetic look splayed across him.

"What, how?" Then I noticed how I had left the door slightly open and put two and two together.

"He couldn't have thought-? No way!" To my dismay, Charles confirmed my fear. I strode out without another word and paced down the hallway, noticing a metal frame on the wall was contorted as if it had been crushed by something. When I didn't find him in my room, I walked towards the next best possibility and found his door wide open, Erik pacing back and forth.

"I know we've moved pretty fast, but I didn't think you move on from me that quickly, especially with Charles!" His anger was exponential and it frightened me a little bit but I stood my ground.

"You can't be serious can you? Did you even see the whole conversation?" I drove him out of my face to find a seat on the bed, crossing my legs like a lady and trying to keep my composure. He would not see me get frazzled, no one would.

"I didn't need to, I saw all I needed to with you practically shacking up with him on that sofa." He really could be insufferable sometimes, so much so I actually laughed.

"Charles was helping me figure out what the hell was going on with me! I had him scan my mind so I'd be better informed and then he opened a door to all the possibilities! You just saw us celebrating, and if you don't believe me, why don't you ask Hank? Now, when you learn to stop being so brash and grow up, come see me but right now I'm leaving." I reserved my dignity by getting up and not losing myself to anger and was proud of myself in doing so. Erik, however I could tell was not proud of himself but still let me go, silent to his accusations, no doubt in shame.

I found myself traversing the outside courtyards to clear my mind and had to make a note to next time bring a sweater. The fall air breezed through my hair, reminding me how much I loved the season. Descending on a bench I decided to again attempt breaking past the limits of Alex's power.

I closed my eyes and pushed with as much might as I could muster and felt a warm sensation travel down my fingers and exit through the tips. Opening my eyes to witness the power felt much easier to me but still did not go any further in magnitude.

"You really shouldn't try that." I jumped at the sound of Alex's voice whom had been observing me.

"And why is that? I could be of more use to the team the more diverse I become."

"I can't even control my power, it pretty much controls me. I'd hate to have to see someone else deal with hurting someone like I have." He sat down next to me, concern in his voice.

"You don't need to worry about me, but thank you for the heads up. If anything, I just want to go past the boundaries of being able to absorb powers efficiently; it's not really about trying to master yours. I hope you know, I'm not trying to steal yours away from you!"

"Don't worry, I trust you." We chuckled lightly together and continued our candor, but on lighter subjects. I remembered that we were still on a schedule and had one other mutant to track down that night so I bid my farewell, heading back to my room to take a shower.

When I got back to my room, there lay a dozen roses in a neat bunch on my bed which made me smile. It looks like he had gotten over his insecurity finally and come to his senses! I picked one up and inhaled it's scent deeply, wishing he was here so more than roses could be exchanged. I dropped my clothes at the foot of the bathroom door and ran the shower, soon getting in and feeling the hot water trail down my hair and back. Twenty minutes later I came out of the bath with my robe wrapped around me and jumped out of my skin when just my luck, Erik leisurely laid on my bed.

"Heavens, you gave me a fright, don't do that! There is a such thing as knocking before coming in, Erik." I indignantly told him.

"Right, yet I didn't think that applied to me, love." He sprawled out without a care in the world as opposed to how I was in comparison.

"While I do love roses, they don't equate to an apology; words do. So unless you're here to apologize for your behavior you can just see yourself out because I have to get ready for tonight." I turned around to go into the bathroom to change but he caught my wrist in his hand.

"You know I am sorry. What else would you have me do?" His hands grasped my thighs to prevent me from pulling away from him any further but it didn't take long anyways before I started to melt in his hands like a fine putty.

"Act like a gentleman would be nice for starters." I rolled my eyes at him in mock protest and couldn't help the smile that tempted my lips.

"Oh, would this be very gentleman-like madame?" His right hand found its way easily under my robe and along my inner thigh to roam as it pleased, borderline tickling me.

"Stop that, I mean it!" I laughed, not serious this time and when his fingers lightly traced my skin I swear I could have collapsed on top of him in uncontrollable laughter.

"I doubt this makes me a fit gentleman either." His other hand started up my stomach and rested right under my breast, teasing me.

"Well I guess I'm not much of a lady for letting you do it then." I placed a kiss on his lips, my hands no longer clasping the robe shut, letting his eyes devour me. I pushed him back down on the bed and climbed on top of him seductively as if I were as agile as a cat, then let him do with me as he will.

Impatient, he tore the robe away from me to expose everything and started to kiss along my neck. I swept his jacket off the bed meeting the floor, proceeding with the rest of his clothes, eager to explore him. His kisses turned to little nips and bites that ended at my collar bone while my hands found their way down to grasp his already hard member. When they did, his behavior shifted to wild with passion, he flipped me on my back and placed my hands above my head.

"Don't play with me, I can't stand it when you do that." I moaned into his ear, needing him so badly for a release.

His tongue met mine in a fiery dance of emotion that resonated between us, but didn't last long because he broke away to trail downwards. I almost came when his mouth found my womanhood, his tongue skillfully working its way around my clit and in and out of my deepest core. I kneaded my hands through his hair, desperately not wanting him to stop, but at the same time wanted the bliss to not render me incapable of movement, as if I were paralyzed.

"Erik, please!" My hips were grinding upwards, trying to get as close as they could into his face, making me blush at the lack of modesty I had as a result of what he was doing to me. Deep down I didn't really care anymore.

"Tell me you want me. Tell me you need me." He stopped what he was doing to me to raise himself up to my eye level to my disappointment. I cupped my hand around his face and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Erik Lensherr, I need and want you with every inch of my body and can only hope you feel the same about me." My eyes filled up with tears but I held them at bay just barely.

We made love several times in the next hour; I was taken past the brink of happiness and pleasure and I never felt luckier to be in this man's arms afterwards. The way Erik made me feel was like nothing I ever thought I could imagine. When we were around each other I felt empowered and stronger and I was the person I was meant to be all along. Did that mean it was fated we be together?


	6. Never wanted to dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The X-Men recruit Angel and Leah starts to fall harder for Erik.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vielen Dank= Thank you  
> Ich brauche dich= I need you  
> Sie halten meine Seele= You hold my soul

It was going on eight when I slipped into the silky black corset dress that was provided to me for the occasion of the night. I pulled up the black panty hose then put on the black heels I wasn't exactly used to and met Erik in the hallway. His eyes lit up with a delight I hadn't yet seen from him which made me blush of course. He held out his arm to usher me to dinner with the rest of the group.

"Ms. Leah, you are looking ravishing. Surely you can't just be dressed up for dinner are you?" Darwin caught up to us as we headed to the dining hall.

"Vielen Dank! We're headed to a club actually after dinner to try for another hopeful." I crossed my fingers in hope and smiled at him, continuing our trek.

"Raven won't like this one bit, us together like this." Erik quietly muttered under his breath to me so Darwin couldn't hear because we wanted to keep our relationship quiet.

"She's young, she doesn't know what she wants. I however, do." I kissed his cheek knowingly right before entering the hall and saw the table was already full up with food.

"A little over dressed don't you think?" Raven posed a question at the both of us naturally but I knew it was directed at me specifically.

"You already know why Raven. Do behave, will you?" Charles defended the both of us to her right away.

"Raven's just jealous she doesn't get to go out and have fun." Sean blatantly poked fun at her, whilst keeping his eyes down cast to avoid hers.

She rolled her eyes and didn't say another word. Dinner was served soon afterwards and we conversated for the next half hour before the kitchen staff rushed away with the remnants of our plates.

"You guys can take off when you need to; I'll watch over here." Moira nodded off to us.

"Thank you dear! The car should be ready in about...now." Charles used his telepathy to determine our transport probably just pulled up outside the lobby.

"Raven's really starting to get on my nerves, put a leash on her will you comrade?" Erik didn't bother trying to mask his disdain for her attitude once we left the room heading to the car.

"She just has a tough exterior, Erik. I hope you don't mind her Leah, she really is just uncomfortable with herself."

I grasped his hand compassionately right before getting back into the car and gave him a reassuring smile."It's fine, I know how it is at that age. That age is hard going through especially as a mutant. And _you_ don't need to be so hard on her." I threw a disapproving gaze Erik's way.

"Maybe if she'd stop being so insecure I wouldn't need to be. One thing I like about you, is you aren't." Of course I couldn't be mad with a compliment like that! He leaned over to kiss my temple and signaled the driver.

The club was smoky but well lit enough that I could see all the male patrons in the main room that was full of scantily clad dancers. It appeared that I was the only female who didn't actually work there, so more than a handful of eyes scanned my form when I approached the main bar. I took a seat at the brightly lit circular counter across from the mutant pair and didn't take long to be courted by some drunken buffoon.

"Heyyy pretty lady. How are you tonight?" This one appeared to be in his early thirties, already slurring his speech so early in the night and almost spilling his drink on me.

"I'm fine, when men aren't stumbling over themselves onto me." With that, I dismissed him and set my eyes absentmindedly on the young woman crouching seductively in front of Erik.

"Some men in here are animals, good thing there's still a few gentleman around! Bartender, get this woman a martini!" Another man had walked up to my right side, this one much more composed and respectable looking than the last...must be another corporate drone.

"I prefer a gin and tonic but that'll do I suppose if you're buying." I played with the necklace adorning my neck hoping to draw Erik's attention away from the young woman and to maybe notice I wasn't exactly comfortable in this situation since it was so new to me.

"So what brings a European beauty such as yourself to New York at this hour? My name's Andrew by the way." Without asking my permission, he took my hand and kissed the back of it, to Erik's agitation I noticed over his shoulder.

"I guess you could say business like most people. But between just you and me, I'm on a mission, top secret." I sipped from my martini glass and had to stifle a laugh while I could see Charles smirk to himself from afar. The young woman slipped down from the bar top and led Charles and Erik by hand to one of the rooms reserved for private dances. I could already tell I didn't like her.

"Oh, you're a mysterious one. I like that." He chuckled in an obnoxious way that made me remember why I didn't frequent too many bars outside of my old work.

"I think my date would like it more actually." I gestured my head over to show the room they were isolated in with the dancer.

"Honey, he doesn't look that interested!" Now he was just getting plain annoying.

The red drapes to the private room abruptly closed turning my simple annoyance to a more heightened jealousy. I couldn't help but wonder what could be going on between the three of them. This was just business, I could trust Erik and Charles I knew. She really was a lovely looking woman, with straight black hair and a very tan complexion. Her frame was slightly smaller than mine but you could tell she still had plenty to offer an interested man.

"You have no idea buddy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to with my colleagues. Auf Wiedersehen liebling!" I blew him a mocking kiss to his disappointment and slowly strutted my way (not caring who gawked at me) and found the door to their room, too impatient to wait to see what was going on.

"I was getting tired of you two flirting and being flirted with by pigs so I-"

"Ah Angel, this is my associate Leah. Angel Salvadore, Leah Braun." Before I could say anything further, my mouth hung open in surprise to what I was seeing. The two men were casually sitting on the furniture while Angel, casually hovered in the air, wings vibrating steadily!

"You know, I was starting to worry this was just a social call for the night. I'm glad he's paying you to keep your clothes on I must say." It came off as more of an insult but I didn't really care in this particular situation.

"Tsk tsk honey, no need for hostility, it's quite all right." He got up and approached me, sending me a wink that he approved of my protective attitude over him.

"Of course. You'd be a welcome addition to our little club we've got going." I held out my hand and she hesitated at first but nonetheless took it.

"Charmed. We were just playing show me yours, I show you mine: mutant version. Would you like to?" Amusement filled her voice and I couldn't quite tell if there was a hint of taunting in response to my direct annoyance I had given her a minute ago.

"Oh, you'll definitely get a chance to see soon, I assure you. Nice bra by the way, it's cute. You're lucky, I don't think I could pull that off!" I mused, trying to lighten our banter.

"Oh, I'm more than sure you can." Erik gave a snort at my underestimation of myself. We walked out of the room hand and hand, myself leading eagerly to go past Andrew. Charles escorted Angel to the back so she could pick up her things.

"While we're at it, why don't we get a drink? It's on me." Erik had the perfect idea, I could swear he was reading my mind! We settled down two bar stools away from the now frazzled business man that until recently had a reserved cool about him when hitting on me.

"Gin and tonic and a whiskey on the rocks. Oh and a bottle of Hacker-Pschorr for us to share." Thankfully he actually knew my order which made me want him even more.

"I love it when a man can speculate correctly about what a German woman wants." I bit my lip flirtatiously, glancing at the regret the other man had that I wasn't ending up with him; too bad.

We had eaten a big enough dinner earlier and since drinking is practically bred into us (no stereotype intended) we held ourselves up pretty well together for the next hour. Our drinks were gone and half of the bottle had been drank between the both of us.

"I almost don't want to stop, butttt I can definitely think of something better to do with you than stay here and indulge in our alcohol friends here!" We laughed together but all too soon became leveled out again.

"That is something I can agree on." He leaned in for a kiss and that was all he had to do to take my breath away and resign from this place.

The ride back we managed to keep our hands off each other in the presence of the other two mutants but all bets were off once we reached Erik's room.

"You know, I kind of feel toasty right now. Like in between sober and tipsy, but the way you're making me feel is a different level, Lensherr." The door slammed shut and locked behind us with the flicker of his hand and we were at it in a flash.

"Shut up and let me undress you." His hands groped at my breasts needingly until I protested by giving him a light shock of that static I could generate at my fingertips, earning a growl from him.

"Why don't you make me?" I backed towards the bathroom and kicked my heels off swiftly then felt the zipper to my dress come undone by Erik.

"You shouldn't tempt me." He was in front of me the next instant, flipping me around while pushing me up against the nearest wall.

I let him tear down the top half of my dress to expose the strapless bra underneath. My hands roamed down his side to find the hem of the dress shirt that stubbornly stayed in place at first. He placed kisses along the side of my neck until it was starting to get hard being up against that wall without doing more.

"Why don't we take this to the shower, hmmm?" I guided him into the bathroom, discarding our clothes at the door.

Maybe it was the alcohol in my system, because I didn't mind standing in all my naked glory waiting for the shower to be ready and neither did he apparently. We stepped in the water and took turns alternating between kissing and actually taking a shower. Erik took the liberty to wash my hair for me, massaging my scalp like I was a goddess.

With that out of the way, I soon became pressed up against the wall of the shower and found my leg hitched up for all the access he needed. He entered me with caution at first but didn't take long to find the right pace that became very enjoyable. I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep him close to me for fear of slipping in the water and collapsing from my legs suddenly becoming weak. We temporarily stopped our ministrations to exit the shower and dry off to just continue on the bed and I was thankful to be off my feet.

"Ich brauche dich." He whispered into my ear so quietly I almost didn't hear.

"Why?" I wanted to hear from him his reasoning to want to be with me so badly. I needed to know what was going to come from this in the future so I could prepare myself if it ended.

"You're the only one who understands on the same level." He leaned back to face me, his eyes full of emotion as mine were also.

Tears were stinging my eyes because it brought back a rush of memories of all the nights I cried alone in my bed. It was for all the fallen people, my people that would never be able to enjoy life again. I cried for the lost years I had to be alone without my own parents and deal with continued injustices even after the war. My eyes were glassy because I grew up all by myself, without any real guidance for why I had powers and no one else I knew did not. Erik was my only family now and it was already becoming almost unbearable to picture myself without him.

"Sie halten meine Seele!" I couldn't tell if he was happy to hear that since the only reply I was given was his lips crushing mine in a lock of passion.

My skin felt like it could be on fire the way he touched me; he was like a phantom on every inch of bare skin he could reach, being everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time for too long. He pressed his aching, hard member into my womanhood as deep as he could plunge and savored how I reacted: My fingernails dug into his back and my toes curled up in pleasure. Just when I think it couldn't get any better, I saw stars erupt in my vision as my bliss exploded. I nipped and kissed at his neck while his hands encircled my breasts, gently cupping them in his hand. When I bit down harder he growled and finally gave away his release to my satisfaction.

"You're killing me, you know that right? If we do this any more I think I'll end shrivelling up." We laughed together lightly as he held me, gathering the sheets around us.

"It's your fault you're such a devil, Erik. It's a mystery to me that I've gone to just meeting a perfect stranger not even a week ago to having a full blown whatever this is. I've never been like this in my entire life; maybe it's because I'm finally actually living. By the way, what exactly is this?" I moved my finger back and forth between us.

"I don't know Leah, things are tumultuous right now. We have a lot ahead of us with what Shaw's planning. What happens with this group will change the future for mutants all around." The tone of the conversation had become very serious.

"Well whatever happens, I'm with you and you can depend on me. We need to stand together if we're going to make it through this." Without another word, we settled back down looking up at the ceiling and pondered what the future held in store for us.

Even though I had practically sworn my allegiance to him, I worried how far Erik would go to get his revenge and then what would he do afterwards. Would I become like him? One thing I did know however after tonight, was that I was irrevocably falling for Erik Lensherr and there was no stopping the binding of my soul to his.


	7. So long, Jimmy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah meets Logan and the group think up mutant names before getting into some trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eigentlich kann ich dich. Nervige Bugs= I can make you. Annoying bugs.  
> Man kann nie aufhören, mich, meine kleine hellion überraschen= You never cease to amaze me, my little hellion

The pub I entered was medium size with about a moderately sized crowd, at least to my own experience I could base that on. I plopped down on a bar stool next to a burly man that was enjoying a cigar and a drink that paid almost no attention to my arrival except maybe a glance. I was ahead of schedule; Erik and Charles took another mode of transportation while I decided to stick to a back route that got me there faster.

"What can I get you, miss?" The senior bartender asked while drying out a clean glass.

"How about a tall glass of Hacker-Pschorr?" He nodded and slid it over to me, I dug into my jean pocket to get the dollar out to pay.

"You sure you can drink that all by yourself? I could bench press you." The man next to me had the biggest sideburns I ever seen, judging from the side view I got.

"I'm German, so I think I can manage. Prost!" Winking at him, I took two big gulps of the beer and wiped off my mouth from the extra foam that came from the top portion.

"When I turned eighteen I used to go to bars and place bets with people to how much I could drink. It took a while, but it paid my passage back to Germany quite nicely." Now this got his attentiveness.

"Sounds like my kind of woman." His eyes lowered back to his drink and puffed on his cigar to avoid further contact.

"You've been around for some time I can tell, and you're older than you look." He had that aura about him, I naturally was beginning to sense once I actually paid mind and cut to the chase.

"I don't know what you're talking about lady." His tone was indeed dismissive as if he had something to hide. I slid closer yet kept some distance since it was blatant he was a very defensive person.

"I'm very much like you, I sense it." I dared putting my small hand over the one that wasn't occupying the cigar.

At this time, Erik and Charles had finally arrived and stood behind the bewildered man.

"I'm Charles Xavier and this is my associate Erik Lensherr-"

"Go fuck yourself." He curtly replied to the two which they acknowledged by walking themselves right out the door. I couldn't help but laugh at both the response and the fact this was the man Charles had set out for that I had been talking to all this time.

"I apologize for that." Unlike my friends, I was not to be deterred so easily.

"You're with them?" His bushy eyebrow crooked disapprovingly at me.

"They picked me up back in Dresden. I actually worked at a pub like this when I went home two years ago. My name is Leah Braun, by the way." I held out my hand expectedly.

"You can call me James. My brother calls me Jimmy though, and no you don't want to meet him. He doesn't play well with others. I don't really either." Despite not being a very social person, he must have been taught good manners by his mother, I estimated when he shook my hand. Most people I had encountered in pubs weren't inclined to do so as much.

"Well, okay! No last name James?" I leaned forward with my face cradled by my hand, elbow on the counter.

"The less you know about me the better." He finished his drink and motioned for another one.

"Fair enough, so let us drink then, eh?" I smiled warmly regardless of the reception he permitted me.

Two beers and a shot of whiskey later, we got some small talk in but I could sense James would end up going his own way in the end. We made our way outside onto the sidewalk and I could tell he was ready to go on his way, wherever that would end up being. I zipped up my jacket as James threw on his leather jacket.

"It might not mean much but just know you aren't alone; there are others like us. I myself am beginning to see the world needs us." I grabbed his wrist but let go when I could feel some sort of hard appendage hidden deep within.

"After being in three wars, I think I can understand where you're coming from." He winked at me and started walking backwards towards his motorcycle.

"Wow. Take care, James! Maybe we'll meet again one day." My voice was incredulous, he had to be joking about participating in three wars but I went with it anyways.

"I can only hope if I ever met a woman, she's as pretty as you and she can drink half as much as you consume!" He got on the bike and soon disappeared in the traffic to my dissapointment. I walked across the street to locate Charles and Erik waiting for me on a bench.

"I guess he just didn't get your charm like I do boys." My hands were in my pockets and I shrugged in a goofy way, almost too innocent even for me.

"You tried though Leah, and I appreciate that. Come now, lets get back to base!" Charles enthusiastically said to cover up their probable embarrassment that they couldn't hang like I did with James.

"We got a hold of Moira, so she'll have some intel reports when we get back later and we'll be going from there now the team is together." Erik held no reservations about holding my hand, walking down the street to our next destination.

Time was running out and I didn't know how many other chances I would have to spend like this with him before shit hit the fan, so I would take what I could get.

When we got back to Division X, I parted ways for the time being with Charles and Erik to go my own way for a while. Stopping by my room, I traded my jacket for a navy blue sweater that went nicely with my tan slacks and threw up my hair in a loose ponytail.

"You're one of those freaks aren't you?" I bumped into two agents rounding a corner and regretted doing so.

"If you mean a higher evolved form of life from you, then yes. You'd do well to keep your mouth shut when talking about things you have no idea about!" Anger swelled within me.

"And what do you think you're going to do to make us?" They scoffed at my claim; they're the cocky type!

"Eigentlich kann ich dich. Nervige Bugs." I rolled my eyes at them and let the anger within flare up to fuel me.

I flicked my right hand ever so slightly at the one who spoke and projected a fake memory of his wife cheating on him. With the other hand I honed in my concentration more, but I still easily conjured up the spark that wanted to escape my fingertips and grow. The smirks on their faces had been wiped away as they scampered cowardly away, practically wetting their pants, to my enjoyment of course.

"Whatcha laughing about darlin'?" Sean had just came upon me after the agents left, in his usual goofy mood.

"Just had to teach a couple of idiots a lesson is all." My laugh died down as I threw my arm around his shoulder casually.

"Nice. So what do you think about Angel? She's a sight for sore eye."

"Ugh, don't even get me started on her. She rubs me the wrong way you could say, but I'd rather just not talk about it, it's not polite talk. So what're you kids up to?" We walked down the hall and it felt nice, the ginger haired youngster fit well with me like the little brother I never had.

"Just chilling out, you should come hang out with us! Get to know everyone and stop running around all the time; you're a cool lady." He said shyly to me just before we arrived to the lounge.

"Sean, you really are too sweet. I don't know why someone hasn't snatched you up yet!" I ruffled his hair playfully and let go.

" _Totally_ with this mug and hair! Girls my age like to date the football jock. I'm not so athletic in that aspect. Oh well, it's their loss!"

"One day someone will appreciate you for who you are on the inside, don't worry. You deserve the best honey. Now, I hate to do this but I have to go meet up with Moira and see what's going on." At this time, the rest of the group minus Charles, Erik and Moira entered and I was begged to stay.

"Come on and stay! They can deal without you being there." Alex said to me in protest the other guys agreed with. The girls didn't feel as strongly either way, but nonetheless were feeling in a social mood so they didn't act jubilant in me trying to leave at first.

"Alright, I guess I can sit out whatever they're planning." I smiled and took a seat at the bar while the rest of the group found their own seats on the black leather chairs and initiated a conversation.

"We should have code names! We're government agents now, we should have secret code names. I wanna be called Mystique!" This came from Raven, and for the first time since I met her I actually saw her face light up.

"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique!" At Sean's joke we all laughed which led Raven to shape shift into him mid way through her sentence.

"Well tough I called it and I'm way more mystique than you." She looked quite ridiculous imitating the freckle faced mutant, with her legs crossed in a lady-like way. Of course we all clapped at this feat; it's not everyday you know someone who can change their appearance like that!

Next, Darwin finally showed off his amazing ability of adaptation by walking up to a fish tank along the wall and sticking his head in it. He instantly sprouted gills and could breathe in the water as if it were air! All these years I had been missing a lot by not being in the company of my own people. I was particularly fascinated by Darwin's ability I had to say.

"What about you?" He pointed in Sean's direction who clarified for those who didn't already know he had picked out the code name of Banshee.

"Why would you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Angel almost snidely asked but tried to mask it with a youthful attractiveness.

"You might wanna cover your ears." He got up from his lone chair and bent down in front of the white table.

Once our ears had been covered, he took a deep breath in, and sent a high pitched whistle forward that completely shattered the nearby glass. I abandoned the bar stool to stand closer to the chairs, my interest piqued.

"Impressive Banshee!" I laughed while complimenting him.

"So what exactly can you do, Leah?" Angel's laughter had died down and her eyes fixated on me.

"Well...I guess the only thing that comes to mind to call me is... Memoria. It's Latin for memory." I walked where the glass used to be and thought about what I could actually demonstrate.

Focusing and taking a quick breath to steady myself, I thought up a memory of when I saw the movie 'Bye, Bye Birdie' and projected the opening scene into each of their minds for a few moments. I then changed it to a scene from 'The Wizard Of Oz' letting it fade away once they got the picture, no pun intended.

"I am still developing. As Hank and I have discussed, my powers have become more based on absorption." I modestly told them as they wrapped their heads around it.

"Sweet! Yeah, I remember when Leah came to me. She absorbed some of my power. Go ahead and show it!" Alex definitely was on my side and understood.

I positioned my fingers in front of me and brought the red static to my fingertips and quickly blew it out to contain it from growing any further. Alex had enough trouble controlling his powers, so I was very careful with this one, especially since it was so new to me.

"Groovy, Leah! Can you do more than that?" Darwin asked me in interest since it seemed so much more complicated than everyone else's abilities.

"I'm working on that. Maybe we can try tonight?" I sent him a wink and decided to sit on the arm of Banshee's chair to resign from all the attention I had just received.

"Your turn!" Angel was only too eager to show herself off at the request of Sean, shrugging off her leather jacket while standing up.

"My stage name is Angel. Kinda fits!" I had already seen what she had to offer so I didn't pay as much attention to her show off display .

I did however, heed to her demonstration of spitting acid onto the head of a statue in the courtyard outside the window. It did not look that pleasant; I made a mental note not to get into a spitting fight with that one!

"What about you, Hank?" She continued the go around by making him next to his dismay because Alex automatically poked fun at his prehensile feet.

"How about Bigfoot?" It was a casual joke, but Raven still came to Hank's defense with a sting of her own that surprised and got a chuckle out of me.

"Well you know what they say about guys with big feet, and yours are kinda small!"

"Aww, guys come on now, play fair!" I teasingly waggled my finger at them for the jests but didn't think much of it, after all there wasn't much harm done.

"Now Alex, what is your gift, what can you do?" Darwin only made it fair by bringing the attention to the end of the group.

"Uh, it's nothing. I just can't do it in here..." The blonde youth bashfully said, trying to dismiss having to show the full extent that I only sampled. We cheered on Alex to try it out in the courtyard with words of encouragement.

"That's the spirit!" Darwin replied when Alex gave into the positive peer pressure.

"Get down when I tell you." He climbed out of the shattered window about twelve feet away while we gathered nearby.

"Come on guys, get to the side." I chauffeured them over where they'd be out of harms way, but we peeked over to see better anyways.

"Get back! Whatever." He said dismissively as he gathered his arms to his center and triggered his power.

The only way he could somewhat control his power was by moving his entire body in a way one would when playing a hula hoop, ironically. A quick, yet very powerful burst of red shot forward to searing through the statue. The upper half lay on the ground to our unexpected jubilance at how 'cool' it looked. Everyone clapped and cheered while I let out the breath that I had been holding in anticipation and anxiety for the harm that could have possibly ensued. Thankfully, things went okay and no one ended up hurt.

"Now that you have a piece of my power, you definitely need to make sure you keep it on lock down. I couldn't before, and I don't want you to hurt anybody like I have." Alex warned me once he came back to the room.

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." I sent him a wink and went back to my perch at the bar.

"Let's have some fun! This place is so boring." Banshee incited everyone when he turned on a record player in the corner that had some sort of beach party music.

I didn't really see the harm in them having a little bit of fun so I let them go on while I made myself a drink; apparently this was a bad idea. Within twenty minutes I had downed a shot of whiskey and two beers, so I sank in my own thoughts as the group held their own party. Angel was flying mid-air, sloppily sipping at the drink in her hand while Raven danced on top of the couch without a care in the world. Hank's shoes were discarded on the floor and you could see his figure upside down hanging from the light fixture.

I came back to focus when I realized that the guys were breaking objects over Darwin's back that was now covered in a heavy black coat of protection. I got off my chair and tried to disapprove what they were doing but my protest was in vain.

"Harder!" Darwin was holding his arms outwards, offering Alex the challenge to swing as hard as he could with the piece of metal that would break a normal man's back. I really was no good at this whole authority thing. Just when I gave up my protests, I noticed a very serious Moira, Charles and Erik standing outside the window with disapproving looks on their faces.

"What are you doing? Who destroyed the statue?" Her fists were on her waist and her face was full of disbelief at the scene before her.

Before I could gather my wits about me, Hank was the one to answer her question, all too quick to throw Alex under the bus.

"It was Alex!" Alex threw out his left arm in surprise but Hank stuck to his guns.

"No, Havok. We have to call him Havok now. And we were thinking, you should be Professor X, and you could be Magneto!" Raven enthusiastically chimed in, obviously not getting the picture that she shouldn't have a smile on her face.

"I wasn't a part of _that_ naming ceremony..." I dismissed under my breath.

"Exceptional." Erik sarcastically said to Charles, to my dismay.

"Leah, what happened here? I would have thought you could keep things under control." Moira said to me.

"I know, I'm sorry Moira, I really am. I will have the statue taken care of, I give you my word." I stepped forward to give my responsibility for the group, my hands gesturing in good will. Erik was already walking away, without even responding to me while Moira seemed more forgiving.

"I know you're new to this but you're the oldest of the group. I really need you to pull through, they need you more than they know." Moira and myself had already stepped to the side to have a word where the youngsters couldn't hear.

"You're absolutely right Moira. It won't happen again. Please accept my apology for lack of leadership." She could tell I really felt ashamed so she let it go.

"I expect more from you." Charles said to Raven as he walked away with Moira. Raven looked crestfallen as it really sunk in this time.

"We're really sorry Leah-" Alex tried to say to me since I was the one who took the brunt of the responsibility.

"I tried telling you guys to stop...never mind. It's all right. I'll be back, I need to talk to Erik!" I interjected and promptly left the scene to find him.

"Hey! So you're just gonna ignore me?" I captured Erik's arm when it was too hard to actually step in front of him considering his legs were longer than mine.

"That looked really bad. You're not doing anything to help them when you allow those sort of things!" His voice was even but I detected agitation in his tone which I didn't feel like placating.

"Don't act as if you'd do any better! The nuns made a point to break me down as much as they could, meaning I'm not used to all of this. We come from the same background so don't blame me for not having the best social/leadership skills Erik!" I spat out at him, close to being offended.

"That's not an excuse or else I would have used it already." He rolled his eyes at me and continued to where he was headed, the docking bay.

"They were having fun, and I was about to stop them right before you came along. It really wasn't that big of a deal. So calm down or else." We had just arrived at the entrance of where a plane was resting, commissioned for us to use for whatever mission intel led us to.

"Else what?" He challenged my word, partially in anger and also in humor, not expecting me to do anything.

"I said, calm down!" I pushed my hands to his chest in frustration and released a higher frequency of Havok's power that made him stumble away from me. I was getting better at controlling it, but did nothing more than shock him both physically and in surprise.

"Fine, all right!" Admitting defeat at my burst of power, he clutched at his chest and took a deep breath to steady himself. What he did next was my turn to be surprised; he kissed me.

"Man kann nie aufhören, mich, meine kleine hellion überraschen." With his finger he flicked away a stray strand of my hair and loomed over me dominantly.

"Oh please. You really can be a horses ass sometimes." I rolled my eyes passively.

"You still like me though." Gripping my hips with his spacious hands, he guided to the nearest wall.

"Well, yeah...but that still doesn't mean you can't be insufferable." I surrendered the last bit of annoyance I held onto and grabbed the back of his head, pulling down for a kiss.

"So, do you like your new christened name Mystique gave you?" I pulled back but stayed at arms length. I asked the question mainly to tease, expecting him to hate it.

"It kind of has a ring to it, makes sense. What about you?" His mouth was contorted into half a smile but was still sexy.

"Well Magento, it's nice to meet you. You may call me Memoria." My head turned sideways and I smiled brightly.

"It fits you." I bit my lip lustfully while tracing my finger along his jawline before his lips found mine again, getting lost in it all, until he pulled away suddenly.

"What?" Confusion fell on me as Erik sensed something I had not. Someone was in the bay with us.


	8. Lightning crashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaw attacks Division X, dealing a significant blow to the morale of the young X-Men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hartnäckige Frau= Stubborn woman  
> Viel Glück in Russland= Good luck in Russia

Erik took a careful step forward, his arm in front of my torso to keep me behind him once we heard a sharp yet subtle crack in the air. Someone was definitely here and yet no alarms were sounding off that an intruder had acquired access onto the premises.

"Who's there? Show yourself, coward!" Erik yelled out into the distance as the cracking sound continued, but in different spots.

With the influence of my mind, I asserted myself onto the being for any semblance of memory to find out who the person was. It was hard at first since the mutant was constantly running around from one place to the next, but I finally found a gap in the mental wall so I could very briefly glimpse a group of mutants.

One was a brown haired man that looked at least ten years older than Erik. Another of Spanish descent, with luscious dark locks of hair and wore a fashionably gray suit. Then there was a very beautiful blonde woman somewhere between my age and Erik's that was scantily clad in white. All looked like they were on the same team, it must have been Sebastian Shaw's.

"He's one of Shaw's henchmen." What little impression I was given blurred away once I said this; the mutant had heard me say it and obviously pulled his wall back up, but the last thing I saw was red out of the corner of my eye.

"Go find Charles!" Erik sternly told me but I steadfastly stood my ground behind him. After all, I wasn't going to leave him alone with this mutant and no back up!

Alternatively, I ran out in front of him and was confronted by something, or I guess you could say someone whose appearance bewildered me at first. A red skinned man with a scarred face and full head of black hair towered right in front of me. My breath was almost stolen from me when he landed a punch in my gut. I could have crumbled and shrunk away but I instinctively raised my hands and with all my might sent the power of Havok right back at him. I noted my sense of control over the power was increasing each time I used it.

"Get him!" I roared at Erik's direction.

The red man in black evaded the brunt of my attack to my disbelief, by transporting over to the next spot! Alas, he didn't completely evade the brunt of my attack; I had slightly singed him enough to halter his movement long enough for us to close in on him. Erik bent down and put his hands together as a prop up for me to run forward, step onto them and send a kick through the air into the man's face.

"Watch out!" I cried out in warning when I saw the man quickly rebound and brandish a sword that slid out of it's cover.

"Tsk, tsk." Erik waggled his finger in disapproval and moved the sword out of the way when it was swung at him.

Just then, Charles arrived but before he could be of any use, the man transported away as soon as he arrived, leaving dark-red wisps of smoke in his wake.

"I had him in my grasp!" He implied that Charles had ruined his chance, what chance I did not know.

"I am sorry my friend, I ran here as fast as I could once I sensed the disturbance. I have no idea how he knew where we were." On cue with what he said, two Division agents along with Moira popped up into the area.

"Anyone...want to fill me in on who that was?" I was hunched over with one hand on my knee, the other clutching my side, it would be sore later.

"Azazel. Shaw sent him to intimidate us." Erik told me.

"I think we should speed up our take off plans. When you guys are ready, come meet me in the conference room." She nodded off to us and left behind the agents that came with her, who were observing the area.

"Are you going to be all right?" The German asked me, his face full of concern. Being punched was no walk in the park, so I grasped his hand for support.

"Just never been punched before is all, it was a surprise."

"I don't think you're that exhausted from a punch Leah, it's something more than that. Did you fight back?" Charles cut in with his own concern.

"I mostly missed, but I singed him with some of my blast. I guess I gave it all I could this time. At least I'm getting better!" The two men exchanged doubtful looks while I had one of cautious enthusiasm.

"There's definitely a pattern I'm starting to see. You're pushing yourself more than your body knows how to and yet it does it any way." They walked at a slower pace to accommodate me.

"I feel fine, really. It's not a big deal, so you two don't need to worry about me." I felt back to normal anyways. To prove my point, I quickened my pace to be slightly ahead of them and found my way back to my room. I laid down on my bed to relax for a moment then heard a knock a minute later.

"You know you can come in." I sighed, Erik of course.

"You know, I did tell you to get out of there." He laid down next to me on his side, brought my hand to his mouth and placed gentle kisses as a lover would treat their wounded.

"I didn't want the fight left all to you. I want to push myself, I need to improve."

"If you say so. I don't mean to be over protective. It's not what I usually do with people anyways." He concluded by bringing up his defenses I noticed he did with me every once and a while when things got too vulnerable. I agreed with this tactic to an extent so let him.

"I'm ready for anything." I brought my hands to cover his cheeks and gently kissed him before getting back up.

"We have to go to Russia. We found out that Shaw is meeting with one of the commanding generals, which can't be good." He told me while I stripped off my sweater and slacks (I desperately wanted a shower).

"How about a shower and massage first, eh?" I smiled and he was all too willing to oblige my request.

Every time Erik had me in bed, he knew all the right things to do to get me going. The sheets were pushed down to my mid region with Erik's form in between my legs under them. The first couple of times I was out of my element letting a man bury his face into the most secret part of me, but I was growing used to it and abandoned any self-consciousness.

"Erik. Come here." I grabbed at his ears to bring him to my level as he wiped at his mouth with no modesty about what he was doing.

"I was rather enjoying the taste of you." A lopsided smile played his face, teasing me.

"I need you so bad right now, and I don't know why." I desperately said to him.

"Then take me." Is all he simply said, giving himself over.

Once he was on his back, I slowly climbed on top. I grasped at my back to undo my bra and threw it across the room hastily at his request and took what was mine. His hands roamed over my breasts and held me close to him. I pulled back and settled onto his long, hard length and couldn't help myself from bouncing up and down enthusiastically.

"You are...everything I've wanted the world to be. You're an angel." His hands cradled my face bringing me closer to him, mere inches apart.

"You are everything I aspire to be. My hero." Our lips met again in sweet passion as we became one and stilled because we were complete.

I grabbed the sheet around me rolling off top of him, then nestled my head in between his side and arm he raised up for me.

"Do you believe in love?" I looked up at him, curious to his thoughts on it.

"It's been a long time since I've been given anything. I had trysts with woman on and off throughout the years but they were just inadequate to me in the end."

"I think I'm falling for you." Dare I say, but I just let it out.

"I don't know what to say to that, Leah." He shifted awkwardly; I could tell this was not his forte.

"Maybe you could reciprocate the feeling?" I blatantly asked him, making the gap between us even further.

"You practically already know how I feel, I don't need to say it." He rose to the side of the bed and threw on his pants with his back to me. I covered myself up then and (particularly my scarred back) that feeling of insecurity crept on me that wasn't welcomed.

"Fine, but sooner or later we'll come back to this subject. There will be a time when the line is drawn for the future." My clothes found their way back to my body in a rush.

"Don't be like that. Hartnäckige Frau." He cursed as I made my way to the door.

"Actually, I get it. You're scared, but that doesn't mean I have to let my heart be dragged through the mud if you aren't all there." I walked back over to him and bent down to give him a kiss on his lips.

"I will be, I just need time." He protested sternly.

"Viel Glück in Russland. " I strode out of my room without another word. They were gone that hour.

I walked back to my room after he had left to change into a pair of blue pants and a red sleeveless shirt that I tucked in. The group of gifted youngsters had calmed down since I last saw them in the lounge so I gladly joined their company. The lights were dimmer now, with Hank and Sean on one couch, and Raven and Angel opposite them. Darwin and Alex were enjoying a game of pinball in the corner.

"Jesus man, you are killing me!" Darwin grimaced at Alex's score on the machine.

"Don't beat yourself up, I've had a lot of spare time." He cavalierly said as I passed by them.

"What's going on guys?" I casually asked the group as I plopped down in between the girls.

"Just keeping it low key, I guess." Raven sullenly said, no doubt still ashamed of disappointing Charles earlier.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. You guys are practically just kids, it really wasn't as bad as it looked. Besides, it was my fault for being lame at supervision." I placed my hand sympathetically on hers and I actually got a positive response from her.

I glanced at the newly replaced window (how it was replaced in only a few hours time I do not know) and saw two agents begin to walk by it. The agent on the right I recognized, I scared him off previously. I waved to him innocently and winked but got annoyed quickly when his partner spoke up.

"Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town! Hey, come on honey, give us a little..." His voice was even more obnoxious as he made flapping gestures with his hands in Angel's direction.

"No? Come on, let's see the foot!" He changed his taunt over to Hank when Angel gave him a disapproving look. I had had enough of this.

I walked up to the glass, to the dismay of the nervous agent next to him and concentrated when I infiltrated his memories.

"Does your wife Jennifer know you cheat on her every weekend when you're supposedly playing poker with your buddies? I would just love to give her a call, now what was your house number?" I moved my finger to my temple to find the information he had stored and easily found it.

"Ah, your house's telephone number is 223-405-3721! So, unless you want to continue with your smart-ass remarks, I can just go find a telephone and-" I started walking to the wall where one was stationed and was stopped when he angrily interjected.

"Fine, you crazy bitch! Stupid Nazi..." This ignorant statement got me itching to make him suffer but before I could do anything, Hank walked up and closed the curtains and bid them ado.

"They're just guys being stupid." Raven tried to make their actions seem not as bad as they actually were.

"Guys being stupid I can handle. Okay, I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me." Angel unhappily said, turning in towards Raven. I sat down with my arms crossed, slouched.

"At us..." Raven alluded that Angel was not the only one who had to deal with these sort of things.

"In my home country, I excelled at hiding naturally. If anything the Fuhrer had taught me, it was hide who you are if society is against you. Being here has reminded me why I never revealed what I was. The nuns in the orphanage already detested my heritage as it was..." I figured that it was relevant to the conversation and might as well got out with. I was done hiding who I was and what I had been.

"Well, good thing you don't have to be like that anymore!" Raven told me.

"You're right, because I am done hiding who I am and I'm certainly not apologizing for it!" Everyone smiled at me as an inspiration to bring their hopes up.

"What was that? I don't know, but something doesn't feel right." Darwin's attention brought ours full swing at a loud distant sound from across the building. He walked to the glass window with us following suit and opened the curtains.

"Something is wrong guys. I think we need to get away from the glass." Every fiber of my being went off in alarm as my keen senses kicked in.

The very familiar crackling sound I had heard earlier in the docking bay sounded in the sky directly above the courtyard.

"What is that?" Darwin naively asked.

"Azazel." I said helplessly as Bert was dropped a couple hundred feet from the sky.

All three of us girls gave out varying startled screams as the head of Division X was dropped right onto the lawn in front of us. This was just the beginning of the assault, as more and more agents began to drop from the sky one after the other to our horror. Something clicked in my head, and my mind was transferred to the main building entrance.

My vision was replaced by an agent who held his gun threateningly at a man walking towards him. My line of sight wasn't perfect but I could see through his enough to distinguish what was going on mere seconds in the past amazingly. I could practically perceive what was happening in the present through memories created only seconds passed!

"Leah, what's wrong?" Alex asked me as I had to lean against the wall; I had to work with more might than normal to ascertain what was going on in the other part of the facility.

"I can see through an agents eyes right now. It's Shaw, he's here for us! Hold on a second, I need to focus to see what's happening in the atrium."

_"We have an intruder on the main atrium." The agent reported into his ear set as Shaw approached him._

_"Where are the mutants?" He wore a silver helmet and a crisp dark blue suit with a red tie._

_"You take another step and I'm gonna put you down!" He warned him._

_"Of course you will, but where do I find the more evolved people?" He just stayed on his trek towards the man, and when shots were fired at him, he simply deflected them!_

_"Send back up now!"_ My sight started to blur at that point and I temporarily lost my connection. We stood in an alarmed stance as we watched the courtyard become littered fallen agents.

"Get back, get back, do not leave that room!" One yelled in our direction, actually ready to defend us. Just then, Azazel reappeared behind them.

"Behind you!" We all screamed and pointed the red-skinned mutant out as a blaze of gunfire fired out against him.

We ran to hide behind the couch right before Azazel re-directed his fire at the others, shattering the glass in the process. Darwin shielded us, but that did little to shake us of fear to what was going to happen if the mutants got to us. Back in the courtyard, a great cyclone was whipped up by the Spanish man, wiping everything out.

_"Where are the mutants?" Shaw was easily holding the man up by the neck, well above a normal man his size strength, but I knew this was no regular mutant._

_"Put that man down or we will open fire!" Came a voice in the sea of fully armed agents that were lined above._

_With brute force, Shaw threw the man straight up into the air and the battalion of men immediately opened fire on him. My vision then switched to another agent; the one he had thrown was either knocked out or dead. Shaw absorbed each single bullet that was fired into him, but in a most unique way. His body took on several different copies all wrapped into one that confounded me!_

_One man had a grenade launcher over his shoulder (they really prepared well for these sort of things, too bad it still wasn't enough) and sent one right at him. Amidst his hands, Shaw gathered up the blast, doing no harm to him, and contained it within. It became a part of him as a result._

My sight then flashed back to our current scene as if I hadn't just seen a full minute of destruction on the other side of the property. Azazel appeared again behind us, this time with his sword, stabbing and slashing at the remaining agents that didn't even see it coming.

"Stay here my ass! Let's go!" Darwin was having no more of this and I was glad he took charge; even though he was only slightly younger than me, I still admired how he took charge in our time of peril as men with character should.

"Come on, I got you." I grabbed Raven's hand and stayed next to Darwin's side, ready to protect the rest of the group. We ran out of the room and I got the final glimpse of what happened next in the atrium with Shaw.

To my horror, I witnessed him direct that force right back at them by stomping his foot on the ground, a domino effect of explosion erupted throughout the room, killing all of the men.

"Get back!" Agents stubbornly stood in our way; it was not in their orders to let us be harmed since we were important government agents.

"We can help!" Darwin yelled in our favor as they held us back from what we really wanted to do.

The explosion I saw not even twenty seconds ago finally caught up to our part of the building as we had reached the guards, effectively barring our exit through that way. Raven screamed in terror, crying as we doubled back running towards the way we just come. All I could do to try to keep her heads level was drag her along with me. Popping in through the window to our right was Riptide (I discovered this through Azazel's memory) and on the other Azazel. We were cornered and scared out of our minds when we heard shots ring out on the other side of the door.

"Wait, you want the mutants, they're right through that door! Just let us normal people go, we're no threat-" The panicky coward said, knowing the end was near. His body smacked against the door and slid downwards, dead as a door nail.

"Where's the telepath?" Here he was finally in front of me after all this time; Darwin had to hold me back with his arm to keep me from rushing him.

"Not here." The red-tailed mutant said in a thick Russian accent I wasn't notably fond of.

"Too bad. Well at least I can take this silly thing off. Good evening. My name's Sebastian Shaw, and I am not here to hurt you." He strode forward a few steps, saying in reference to Darwin who had his fists out in a defensive position.

"Friends, there's a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are, what _we can do_! Each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule." His words had the power of omnipotence behind them but I couldn't help but laugh internally at how ridiculous he sounded at the same time. No wonder why he loved the third Reich so much.

"Go to hell, you lunatic! I'm going to make you pay for all you've done to him. To what you let happen to my people you bastard. You leave them alone. I'm the one you want." I moved stoically in front of the group to not only protect them but because I wanted a piece of him myself.

"Ah, you were the feisty one Azazel told me about...Leah Braun. You need not wonder how I know that; I have a telepath of my own." He said snidely to me as he winked, pretending to not hear all that I spat at him. This man was delusional if he thought I was going to hold a pleasant conversation at all.

"You left a mark where you kicked me." Azazel commented with a smirk on his face. I think he might of liked the pain I inflicted on him which made me shudder.

"Now, you are an interesting one. You'd be most valued on my team, such a beauty as yourself." His cold finger landed under my chin and in response I slapped it away.

"Sorry, I don't work with soulless Nazi's." I spat disgustingly at him.

"That really is too bad that you had to experience that, but it's a bigger shame you can't understand the purpose I was trying to serve under the guise of Schmidt." He shifted his attention back to the rest of the group for his tools of persuasion.

"Choose freely but know that if you are not with us then by definition you are against us. So, you can stay. Fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings...and queens!" His eyes fastened on Angel, I could tell vulnerability was in her glassy eyes. She took his hand, the traitor.

"Angel!" Raven's voice was heartbroken, making my resolve to keep the group together even stronger.

"You kidding me?" Sean asked in the most serious tone I couldn't have imagined to come from him, but was grateful that he still had his common sense about him.

"Come on. We don't belong here, and that's nothing to be ashamed of." I was dismayed she was turning on us, but I wasn't surprised at the same time. She was one of the weak ones, I felt it in her character from the start.

"We have to do something." Raven's sad tone had turned to determination when they walked outside. Darwin's face was full of shock and confusion as to how these mutants could really be like this, ready to start war but became clear when he had an idea.

"Stop. I'm coming with you." I knew deep down he didn't mean it, but inside I felt dread this was going to go all wrong. Angel and Shaw smirked, the latter stepped forward to meet him. She really was a bitch.

"Good choice! So tell me about your mutation."

"Well, I adapt to survive. So I guess I'm coming with you." Alex quietly motioned us to spread out across the room behind him as Darwin went over to Angel.

"Alex!" He yelled the go ahead and before I could do anything, it was too late to change the outcome.

"GET DOWN!" Alex powered himself up just as Darwin moved Angel out of the way, his body hardening to the black tar-like armor, ready to protect her even though she didn't deserve it.

"Wait, don't do it!" I yelled in vain, knowing how Shaw's ability worked but it was too late.

"Protecting your fellow mutants. It's a noble gesture. Feels good!" The bastard said to Alex at his failed attempt to destroy him.

Darwin rushed forward to Shaw with a right hook but the power only fueled the older mutant's block. He grabbed at his mouth and my stomach dropped.

"Adapt to this." He didn't even have to follow through with his promise for me to know what he was about to do, but every part of me had hoped he wouldn't for Darwin's sake.

Alex grabbed me to keep me from running to Darwin's side but it was too late anyways. Shaw released a ball of Havok's power right into Darwin's mouth and Angel didn't even have any semblance of remorse.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as I horrifyingly witnessed Darwin's demise.

The energy reached every inch of his body turning him a silver shade, his skin hard and cracked. Orange light emanated then started to fade just as Darwin looked in our direction, his arm raised out to Alex. The younger man gave the most odd look, as if something was transpiring between the two. Darwin's body then incinerated right in front of me as I finally broke free of Alex's grasp and rushed forward.

"Darwin!" I wailed in grief for a moment letting it quickly turn to rage when I looked up.

Shaw was about to leave, the four joined hands to teleport but I refused to let him escape me. My rage boiled past the point of my control; I literally saw red and I could feel it flow freely from my hands. Not just my fingertips, this time full on with my hands. I yelled god knows what obscenities Shaw's way and I clearly shook him. Even if it didn't end up hurting him, he was shaken by my reaction.

"Amazing. We will be meeting again." With that, the group vanished and I slumped downwards, my feet giving out. Alex and Hank ran forward to help me while the remaining two stood back, tears were running down Raven's face.

"If I don't get him...he will. Erik will kill him." I managed as I coughed, a tiny bit of blood trickling from my nose.

"We need an ambulance! Somebody help!" Hank yelled out for anyone to hear even though we were alone. He ran to the nearest telephone that was still in service and dialed out.

"I'm sorry Leah. I didn't know!" Alex brokenly said to me as my breathing was ragged and my head dizzy.

"Charles and Erik will save us, I know it. Erik will save me..." My sentence broke off as darkness claimed me for the night. My body was resigning for now and I welcomed the coma that graced me.


	9. Anger and Apathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the attack on Division X, Leah travels to Russia with Erik and Charles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ich verspreche Ihnen= I promise you

For several hours, I was engulfed in darkness beyond my ability to comprehend. When I came to, I felt a gentle breeze rustle through autumn leaves scattered about in the background. My eyes fluttered briefly until the strength came to actually open them. My vision was blurry at first; I saw two figures looming over my form.

"She's awake!" Raven's voice flooded with relief.

"Raven...Sean?" My vision had cleared to reveal the bereaved looks on their faces as they crowded around me.

"Whoa, hold still. The paramedic doesn't think you should get up so fast." I was strapped down to a gurney, the doors to the back wide open. In the near distance sat Hank and Alex on a marble bench, his head bent down until he saw me peering around at him.

"I feel okay, sort of. I just have a really big headache." I tried to sit up but the paramedic pressed a firm hand to my chest.

"Miss, you need to get some more fluids in you before I can let you go. Your vitals haven't fully stabilized yet." He adjusted the needle that was attached to my arm to make sure it was properly placed and left us be.

"He's really gone, isn't he?" My eyes turned glassy as a silent tear fell from the corner of Raven's eye, Sean bowed his head solemnly. I would grieve for our fallen teammate in private another time. For now, my determination was set on living in the now because I couldn't let us get down about it.

"I can't let you go yet." Was what the paramedic told me as I begun to unstrap myself, feeling only slightly wobbly.

"You can at least not treat me like a baby and let me sit up. Now, have you two heard news of what's going on?" Hank appeared in front of me to answer.

"The other three will be here shortly. Leah, when I get to a proper lab, I should run another test on you. What happened back there wasn't normal. You were basically in a coma for the rest of the night!" He covertly tried to say to get some privacy from the human that was only a few feet away.

"You can't be serious. That's just great. I can't even protect you guys without being put down for the count..." My mood turned sullen and depressed. I waved them all away back to the bench and sat back to rest my exhausted body even though sleep wouldn't descend on me.

A half hour passed when the paramedic told me my blood pressure had stopped skyrocketing and had leveled. A government issued car rolled up in what remained of the outside driveway. Erik and Charles rushed out to meet us, with Moira dodging the scattered debris that hindered the walkways.

"Raven?" Charles called out to her right before greeting her with a worried hug she openly welcomed. Erik rushed to my side and I found myself in an almost death-like grip as he swore obscenities.

"I am so sorry I wasn't here. It's my fault this happened, that he did this to you." His hands cradled my face while he placed a kiss to my forehead.

"It's not your fault, Erik. The entire headquarters was ambushed. I couldn't control my power, I let it control me." I spoke into his chest as we tightly embraced one another, glad we had found each other again.

"Leah, you went into a coma and he instigated it. I curse myself for not being there to protect you."

"We can't protect the people we love from everything, Erik. It's impossible, I tried." I gave a dry laugh that; I was in one of those depressed moods where you found humor in something just to keep yourself from weeping.

"Next time I will be able to. Ich verspreche Ihnen ." He said with finality, his blue eyes boring down into me, making me not want to protest. I kissed him deeply then grabbed onto him to exit the ambulance to join what remained of our modest group.

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately." Charles said to all of us, minus myself.

"We're not going home." Sean interjected calmly yet indignantly at the idea of running away.

"What?" Charles didn't grasp then how dedicated these people really were, especially since we had witnessed Darwin's death.

"He's not going back to prison." With shades covering his eyes, he turned to Alex indicating he had no choice but to stay.

"He killed Darwin." Alex spat out the blatant answer.

"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over." Charles stood with his hands in his pockets and part of me had to agree; I didn't want any more harm coming to them, but I couldn't just let things go at the same time.

"Darwin's dead Charles...and we can't even bury him." The smile I had briefly seen before from such a radiant girl, who looked like the sun itself in beauty, was no longer so.

"We can avenge him." After a pause, Erik decided that was the best option in Darwin's memory. He stood with his hands on his hips and a pair of sunglasses on to beat out the glare of the sun rising. This got everyone to look up and ponder the idea.

"Erik..." I did not feel it was their responsibility to hold that weight on their shoulders. It was mine and mine alone and I would carry it with me for the rest of my life.

"Erik, a word, please." Charles walked past him a few feet, away enough from the youngsters but not away from myself to which I could gladly join the conversation.

"They're just kids." Charles said in a hush-hush manner to his equal in concern for them.

"No. They were kids. Shaw has his army, we need ours." He did make a good point but Charles and I were still uncomfortable that they had to do this.

"May I just interject? I was with them when all this happened. Erik, you didn't see how scared they were, how much I was!" I nervously said, despite the fact deep down I knew we could all protect ourselves in our own ways.

"I have faith, you'd do well with some too." That was all Erik had to say to remind me why we started this whole thing in the first place.

"We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?" Charles declared as we turned around to address the group.

"Yeah." Alex was the first to agree.

"Well, we can't stay here. Even if they re-open the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go." Hank said, with uncertainty painted across his face.

"Yes, we do." Charles replied, I knew he was talking about his childhood home he grew up in from what he allowed me to see in past memories.

"Wonderful, I was worried about what we'd be doing since this place has been blown to Hell." Moira finally chimed in. She left the group shortly afterwards to go make the group's travel arrangements.

"So how are you guys back from Russia already?" I asked Erik and Charles, wondering how they were even here.

"Our flight was stalled once we arrived in the United Kingdom, then we received word about this." Erik donned me his brown leather jacket, seeing as I was still only wearing my dirtied cut off red shirt and it had become nippy outside. I had ignored the cold temperature up until now when I felt the goosebumps creep onto my skin.

"We still have time to get there. We have to leave soon though. We're guessing Moira is going to put those three into a hotel for the time being until we come back." Charles left out me so I assumed I was permitted to come this time around.

"I'm up to visit Russia. I've never seen mother Russia in all its glory." That was sarcasm from my end; I had no fondness for the giant country Stalin had run.

"Be ready to bundle up kiddo." Is all Charles had to say to make me shiver at the thought of the brutality that was Russia.

X-x-X-x

The road we traveled on was long and bumpy, jolting my body from time to time. Erk sat next to me in the convoy truck we rode in with Moira and her partner in front, the rest of us in the back. When our plane had stopped to refuel in London, I picked up a black leather jacket that was lined with a faux fur material on the inside and was glad I properly prepared for the dreary weather Russia had to offer this time of year. To match, I sported a black knitted hat I had made myself.

"The weather isn't as bad as I thought it would be." I mused quietly to myself to break the silence Erik and Charles had between us. Breaking them from their thoughts was a soft knock coming from the front drivers compartment. Charles and Erik lifted up a wooden window to show Moira with a worried look on her face.

"We got a problem." Moira's partner, Levene, who also doubled as the driver said over his shoulder.

"What?" Charles asked in confusion.

"I'm so sorry. This wasn't on the map." She said to our chagrin and I realized why when I saw Charles peer up past Moira onto the road. A roadblock was set up a hundred feet ahead, something we weren't prepared for.

"Shit." I nervously said under my breath at the thought of being confronted by Russian soldiers with their own guns.

"It'll be fine, Charles has this." Erik turned to me and patted his hand on top of mine to send soothing support my way at my nervousness.

"No matter what happens, act normally. I'll take care of this, all right?" Charles said to the pair, then brought down the shutter.

"Now, listen to me." He directed his attention to the handful of soldiers that also sat in the truck with us. When we stopped they aimed their rifles at the exit, expecting to be caught.

"Easy, easy. Take it easy, chaps." Charles centered himself with one arm held above to the ceiling and the other placed to his temple to focus, which was directed at a single Russian officer that appeared before us.

I grasped tightly onto Erik's arm, naturally expecting the worse to happen but it never did. Levene and the Russian concluded allowing Charles to relax as Erik gave him an appreciative pat on the leg.

"Good job, friend." I beamed at Charles to which he nodded.

We were on our way again and the rest of the drive was only ten more minutes to the Russian military retreat we set our eyes on. After arriving some distance away from the huge mansion, we found a place just at the top of an incline where we could safely do reconnaissance in the grass. A two person helicopter arrived on time with us, I stole a look up close with binoculars, seeing the person who inhabited it.

"The woman in white."

"Where is Shaw?" Erik and Charles had not been expecting to see her show up in Shaw's place.

"I don't know. But if she's a telepath and I read her, she'll know we're here." Charles said knowingly.

"What is her name? I've seen her in my vision before." I interjected on their thought.

"Emma Frost, Shaw's right hand." Moira gave me my answer easily, she must have encountered her before I assumed.

"Let me try something else." Charles once again put his finger to his temple to focus in on the situation. Out of sheer curiosity of my new found extension of my power, I followed Charles' current memory a mere two seconds behind what he was seeing in real time and saw exactly what he was seeing in his own head.

"What are you doing, Leah?" Erik noticed my deep concentration, I had forgotten to mention to him this little tidbit of information about my new powers.

"Oh, just taking a gander at what Charles is seeing. It's okay, he doesn't mind." With that, he quieted and my vision quickly narrowed down as I closed my eyes to get a better view.

" _Shaw sends his apologies but he's indisposed. He asked me to come in his place. And between you and I, honey, I'm a lot better company."_ Frost said when she reached the Russian general.

" _Please, come in."_ The middle-aged man replied in a flirtatious tone. I came out of my stupor when Erik pulled me from it.

"What took so long? Charles is done." He asked me out of concern, hoping I was okay.

"She can only see what I see if it's already happened, since technically what I just saw ten seconds ago is a mere memory. He's not coming. So, what now, boss?" Charles answered him for me then continued with his own thoughts on the situation.

"Now, nothing. We're here for Shaw. Mission aborted." Moira started to get up in dismissal, not wanting to take any chances. I noticed that simply did not sit well with Erik.

"The hell it is." He quickly tried to clamber up and away from the group but Moira caught him by the arm.

"Erik." She said to him firmly, but I knew she couldn't tame him.

"She's his right-hand woman. That's good enough for me." Erik briskly said. I knew deep down he really had no regard for her thoughts on the manner, even if she was in control of the mission.

"The CIA invading the home of a senior Soviet official. Are you crazy?" Her voice was incredulous in reply to his idea.

"I'm not CIA." He smugly said with the cutest smile on his face that teased me. He quickly got up, but not before giving me a kiss on the cheek and started away from the group.

"Erik!" Charles protested his decision in vain as I saw him run away.

Not even a minute later I saw the checkpoint in front of the mansion start to unravel. Erik used his power to attack the guards standing watch by wrapping the barbed wire around them, tying them up.

"He's gonna start World War III single-handed." Levene observed from the scene unfolding before us.

"We have to do something." She said urgently in reply to him.

"Like what? We're moving out!" Levene started up to Charles' protest.

"That's it, I'm going after him." I had had enough of their squabbling about what to do and figured if anyone was going to do something about Erik, I would. I ran down the hill and could see along the perimeter Erik was running not too far off. He passed one guard, motioning with his hand to drag him off into the grass by the wire.

"Erik, wait!" If he heard my distant voice, he paid no mind to it while he moved past a barrier.

Erik jerked the weapons out from two guards and proceeded through them, kicking one in the face as he ran past. By the time I ran by them, one of them was already coming to and looked like he was making a grab for his gun.

"Nuh-uh." I waggled my finger at them as I let the red current of power sizzle on my fingertip. One of the guards passed out in fright. I finally caught up to Erik just as he made his way into a corridor.

"There you are! Didn't you hear me back there?" I stopped to catch my breath before we were confronted by more soldiers shouting at us.

"Sorry, love. I've got things to do." He motioned both hands in front of him and with a look a sheer fury and determination, he dismantled their rifles and made a gesture to make the men fall. Erik walked by them and even hit one in the head with the gun but before he could continue on, I was confronted by another soldier who snuck up behind and grabbed me hard by the hair.

"Do not move or I will not hesitate to shoot her." The man had a thick Russian accent intact but was surprisingly versed in English.

"Darling, you really shouldn't have said that to him." I laughed confidently, knowing I wasn't in danger even though I saw a bead of sweat on Erik's forehead.

Regardless, he made the slightest gesture with his finger to move the gun away from my temple and that's all I needed. I roughly yanked the hand holding the gun downwards and with the other I landed a punch right to his temple. His knees buckled from loss of balance so I took the opportunity to grab the gun.

"Run along now, sheep." I smirked at him, keeping my eyes on him.

"I'm not afraid of a woman." He had the balls to say to me!

Wordlessly, I responded by firing at him a warning shot.

"You should be." Is all Erik said before the soldier scampered away barely with his life.

I stifled a shudder because of how I reacted to that situation. Being so harsh to people was a foreign concept, even if they deserved it. Whether I was ready or not, Erik continued his quick stroll forward as I stayed behind, knowing Charles was not far off.

"Where is he, Leah?" Charles appeared a couple of minutes later, his face flushed red. I gestured with my head the direction he went and we went to find Erik. Bursting through the door, the scene before us was like a scene out of a bad movie. The general sat on a velvet bed, thinking he was fondling Frost she was sat on the nearest lounge chair, seemingly bored.

"Ugh, pervert." I scowled at seeing the old man that way once I peered over Charles and Erik's shoulders.

"Nice trick." Charles said in her direction. You could tell the illusion disappeared, judging off the man's reaction. He said something angrily our way and looked to see Frost wasn't on the bed, to which she mischievously smiled.

"Go to sleep." Charles quieted the protests of the man and turned his attention on her. Frost stood up in all her wonderful white lingerie and immediately her whole frame crystallized in defense.

"You can stop trying to read my mind, sugar. You're never going to get anything from me when I'm like this." Charles cringed in his focus against her block.

I strolled over to the doors and shut them, making it clear she wasn't going anywhere. The two mutants exchanged looks just before Frost made a run for it by jumping on top of the coffee table that was positioned in the middle of the room. They charged her, taking her back to the ground, shoving her against the foot of the bed. Erik used the brass of the bed frame to hold her back.

"So, then you can just tell us. Where is Shaw?" Erik tightened the hold on her, making sure she was subdued.

"I know who you are honey. He keeps talking about you, ever since you bruised Azazel's ego." She ignored Erik's line of questioning, trying to stall by making idle chat about me for some reason even though it was futile; we had her cornered.

"Ah yes, don't worry I'll be meeting him again. Except he won't be getting whatever he wants from me...but for now you best answer his questions." As I said this, I took my hat off and tousled my hair about casually and then leaned down on one knee in front of her.

When she still refused to answer his question, I turned my face to Erik to let him press on the interrogation. Without having to lift a finger, he moved another brass part of the frame to wrap around her neck this time.

"Erik." Charles said uneasily to him at this tactic. Erik increased the force by the second, I let him although Charles grew increasingly uncomfortable.

"Erik, that's enough." He said again to him, but Erik was too lost in his own objective.

I couldn't tell whether I didn't care enough, or if I was too scared to tell him to stop so I left it to Charles this time. The crystal facets that made up her hardened skin around her neck were starting to crack now and my worry cued in as Charles' breathing nervously quickened at the sight of this sort of violence.

"Erik, that's enough!" The third time did the charm, Erik finally broke from his concentration and let her neck go. Frost broke out of her form and looked up with an irritated look in her eyes.

"All yours. She won't be shifting into diamond form again. And if she does, just give her a gentle tap." Erik said with a gesture of his hand, as he bent down to the nearby table that had a tray of snacks waiting. I took a seat next to him and gave him a worried look over his behavior.

"What?" He innocently asked as Charles crouched down in front of Frost to peer into her mind to find information.

"Oh hush, you know exactly what." I rolled my eyes and then put my attention t waiting for Charles to finish.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Frost said to him, I could tell it was sadistic. I didn't have to look into Charles' memory to know what he just saw was sickening; it was written across his face.

"This is worse than we previously imagined. We're taking you with us. CIA will want to question you themselves." He looked at Erik first who had a drink in hand and looked concerned himself. Then Charles turned back to Frost.

"Oh, I doubt it. They have bigger things to worry about right now." She insinuated at the picture as a whole.

"Well, I suppose we're done here then?" I was the first to rise up, ready to get out of this wretched place.

"Yes, the Russians won't be happy we were here." Charles said slightly unhappily just as our men came onto the scene to take away Frost.

"Oh, it was nice to finally meet you Ms. Braun. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other sometime." Frost was flanked by our men at all four sides. I looked at her and caught her eye just before she was hustled out in handcuffs and actually looked forward to that day; I felt like there was a lot I could learn from her as a mutant.

"Pay her no mind. Come on, we must be getting back to the states, there isn't much time to dawdle." Charles patted me on the back reassuringly and followed the soldiers out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Erik asked me almost irritatingly at my continued hesitance of the situation.

"I wonder sometimes if these tactics are the right way to go about it. I think back the way I wished to be treated during the war, humane." He got my drift and easily replied.

"We weren't given mercy so we show none for which it is deserved. It's as easy as that." He brought his index finger to my chin to bring me to look at him.

"Maybe...you're right, but I still have some semblance of hope, I have to try to grasp at something." Tears stung my eyes, but I forced them away and decided to leave the conversation at that. I turned my back to him and we walked out of the room without another word.


	10. White demon love song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group sets up at Xavier's mansion, while Erik and Leah have some much needed alone time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick little note, there are some cheesy banters in previous chapters that I found myself rolling my eyes to since I wrote this like four years ago. DoFP doesn't really have the cheesy banter since I've been writing it over the last two years; the tone is definitely a little bit darker.

After we picked up the kids, the plane ride to New York was roughly an hour or so, with barely any time to settle in my seat and take a nap in the cabin. The ride was relatively devoid of much conversation or turbulence, making the ride easier to relax with my own thoughts. Erik sat next to me so I had no trouble resting my head against his shoulder until the pilot announced we were about to land. After we landed, time seemed to fly by as we were escorted by a military issue convoy truck that took us directly to the home Charles and Raven grew up in.

"This is yours?" We were all standing around as a group and Sean was the first to speak up about the beautiful mansion.

"No, it's ours." Charles replied in front of the group so nonchalantly I couldn't hold back a snort. The mansion that was in Xavier's family for generations (judging by the old architecture) was three stories high and looked like it was built for royalty.

"Honestly, Charles. I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship." Erik spoke up sarcastically in lieu of what some of us were gaping at.

"Yes, it is rather shabby, Erik." I joked lightly right before Raven spoke up.

"Well, it was a hardship softened by me. Come on. Time for the tour." She stepped up to meet Charles who adoringly kissed her through her hair. I found myself secretly envying it, that sibling love they shared.

Setting forward, Erik grasped my hand and pulled me to the back part of the group to privately talk to me.

"How does sharing a room sound? Judging by the looks of it, we might not have any other choice." He teasingly winked at me.

"Because this place is just so small!" We laughed and kissed until Sean turned around and noticed.

The tour didn't take as long as I thought it would but then again, Erik and I cut out of it earlier to snag the bedroom we'd be sharing and to do...other things.

"I don't know about you but I'd love a bubble bath!" I yanked off his brown leather jacket, making it clear I wanted him to join me.

"What if the tub isn't big enough for the both of us?" A devilish grin played across his lips that made me want to nip at them.

"I think we can make it work." With that, I pulled him to me and planted a light kiss on his lips while his hands grasped my hips.

"Let's do it then." His left hand went back to make sure the door was locked, then he started to undress me and vice versa.

I was out of my bright red, sleeveless dress that ended mid thigh and only had my lingerie on. I found my way over to the bathroom and used the frame of the door to lean against while I came free of my slip and panty hose. Erik took off his deep blue sweater and started to undo his tan slacks as he advanced on me.

"I'll run the bath. You just sit down and relax, I'll be right back." I smiled warmly and went to start the bath, feeling the hot water run through my fingertips. I went back into the room and climbed up on the bed behind Erik and started to massage his shoulders.

"Mmmmm, that feels good. You should let me do that to you." He chuckled and before I could reply, switched positions with me, brushing my unruly dark hair aside from my neck. He placed light kisses that almost tickled my neck. This was bliss.

"The water should be about ready." I grabbed a few vanilla scented candles that were placed on a nearby coffee table along with a box of matches and brought them into the bathroom. Putting them on the counter, I lit them and turned the dimming light on the wall to it's lowest setting then gestured Erik to come in.

"Nice ambiance." He took off his briefs as I peeled off my remaining undergarments and stepped into the tub on one side with him following suit. The water was just hot enough to soothe my aching bones, but was also aided by Erik's hands as he kneaded out the tense spots with my back to him.

"Now that is simply not fair Mr. Lensherr. This much bliss should be a crime.!" I quietly mused, my neck and head outstretched on his right shoulder.

"'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn'!" Erik slyly quoted the classic _Gone with the wind_ to my amusement.

"I'm more of a _Citizen Kane_ person myself. You'd think it would be the other way around with us."

"You don't like that movie? It's practically the best film of all time but I suppose Citizen Kane is competition." His hands grazed down my stomach to rest perfectly on my thigh, teasing me as we conversed.

"One word: Rosebud. The whole mystery of the film has to do with one word. I always find it comical how right off the bat people thought it was a nickname for his lover's lady parts." I giggled then blushed at how easily amused I was acting, like a young girl.

"You don't have to hide that smile and laugh from me." He brought his index finger to turn my face to him, inches away.

"You don't have to hold back your feelings from me." I retorted matter-of-factly in defense.

Instead of saying anything, he grabbed me by the chin and brought my lips to his in a searing kiss, his hand gripping my inner thigh. He was oh so close and yet so far from the destination I wanted him to travel to.

"I just figured you knew my feelings after being in my head."

"Maybe to an extent, but it's only a feeling I get from memories, nothing more. No thoughts come with them, so nice try at that excuse. If you have something to say I haven't heard yet, then tell me and stop being so damn difficult. It's as simple as that, buddy." I positioned myself away opposite of him with my arms crossed, waiting for him to fess up what his actual feelings for me were.

"Every part of you, inside and out, I adore. Your steel will and the way you defend and hold yourself is better than any other woman I have met. You are my equal and yet we still have so much to achieve. I want to achieve it all with you by my side." His hand found mine as he swallowed a lump in his throat. My heart filled to the brim instantly with so much passion, I could not contain myself.

"I have loved you since I looked into your mind and saw what you were." I brought my body against his in haste, my arms raised to gingerly encircle around his neck.

My eyes held no fear, only anticipation for his reaction. If he didn't reciprocate my requited feelings, fear would not be a part of my vocabulary, I refused it. Erik brought his lips to mine and quickly parted them to gracefully dance tongues about. I grasped onto his shoulder at the same time he pulled back and breathed in between kisses.

"I do love you." Was his breathy response I had been waiting to hear! My face lit up with a joy I had never known before; all of the atrocious things in the world from my past and present could never harm me while I was like this. My excitement shot through my body like an electric current because I could barely hold myself together.

"I love you!" My smile grew into an uncontrollable and infectious laugh that Erik himself could not help but get. As the laughter died down, our mood suddenly changed to one of mad desire for one another. I placed feverish kisses all along his neck as his hands instantly found the most sacred part of myself.

"Take me please." Holding me close to his body now, we quickly rose from the tub, dripping wet we exited.

We barely attempted to dry ourselves off with towels as our eyes locked onto one another, hungrily taking in each others forms. I grabbed the candles, departing the bathroom as Erik sauntered over to the window and tore the black drapes over it, expelling all light. Although our eyes were hasty to eat each other up, we took our time letting things be just right. I allocated the candles to the table and Erik started Frank Sinatra on the record player.

"Come here." I softly said, almost a whisper across the room to where his lean, tall form stood. I laid across the bed horizontally, my body flushed with want for him. It felt like every nerve ending I had was on fire, a good kind if it existed. I wondered if my powers had anything to do with it.

"Leah, Leah, Leah..." His line of sight bore into me, devouring. He slid onto the bed and positioned himself in front of my body. Finger by finger, he traveled from my thigh, up my side and to my shoulder, then gently grasped it chiddingly.

"Do you want me?" I felt like I barely got the question out, my breathing had started up so accelerated out of no where, from all the euphoria I was experiencing.

"I want every single inch of me deep inside of you. I want my fingers inside of you and I want to taste you." As he said each part, he slowly moved to hover over my form. My skin felt like it was on fire and yet I had goosebumps! His hard member pressed firmly against my lower abdomen, it was so close to entering what I wanted the most. I could feel my wetness practically pooling in wait.

"Give it all to me." Tongues then met in a fiery battle neither side naturally wanted to heed to and I was glad, I never wanted it to stop. We began to kiss each other all over in need, in anticipation of what came next.

"You feel so right." When we weren't kissing each other on the lips, we held each other closely and alternated taking turns kissing over each others neck and shoulder area. Becoming impatient, I grabbed his member and started to stroke it as he kissed and bit down hard on my neck. The neglect my womanhood felt wasn't left unsatiated for long when he pulled away from my grasp to roughly enter me.

"Oh!" I managed as he methodically pumped into me, making me want more and more, even when his whole length pushed within me.

My fingers curled themselves through his warm brown hair and tugged when the pleasure felt like too much, which was practically every time he roughly thrust into me. Our breathing became labored from all the physical exertion so Erik switched up, his pace slower, more even.

"Don't...stop...please." I felt in a dizzy, waves of euphoria rolled over me, climbing to their peak. I could barely control myself, but I held on.

"Want more?" He teased, holding back as he asked.

"Don't you tease me." I rolled him onto his back and got on top of him to let him know I was the one in control now. His hands reached for me but I pinned them down. I lowered myself onto him little by little, savoring each inch that made him shudder against me.

"Prolonging...are you?" He grinned as he rose his hips upwards to meet my apex. I brought his hands to rest on my hips and began to rock back and forth at a comfortable pace that left us moaning for more with each climb we took to orgasm. I was still riding the waves of my own orgasm when Erik's hit, his masculinity pouring into me. I collapsed on top of him, gathering my arms up to my chest.

"I love you." I chuckled into his neck from the jubilant feeling that radiated through the both of us.

"And I you." He placed a soft kiss on the top of my head and reached down to raise a sheet over the bottom half of our form.

"Now I'm going to have to take a shower to get off all this sweat clean off me." I stuck out my tongue at him before he started to tickle me.

"Oh is that right now?" His strong hands pierced under my rib cage and sent me in a fit of laughter I couldn't contain. Tickling was one of my secret weaknesses I never let any one find out, but him.

"Stop it, seriously! I can't...take it!" He finally let up when I was laughing way too much to be able to breathe and let my body go slack against his chest.

"When will I ever get another chance?" The inquiry provoked me to think, what actually would we do when this was all over? Would we become a real couple living in a loft in New York or whatever they do?

"Well that depends. Depends on what we plan on doing in the future." If there even is one...

"I didn't think about that before. My mind was so set on just finding Shaw; I honestly didn't expect to survive my plans. Now that I know there are others like us I want to move us in the right direction. I would want you by my side, to usher in the new age." His eyes were so full of determination, locking in on mine and not letting me break away.

"I suppose I should be with my own people. I've always been a drifter; I ran away from Germany to be in the land of opportunity, only to end up crawling my way back to the home land with a shoddy bartending job." Instead of brushing my hair out of my face, I just flipped it completely over to the side and rolled off Erik. Cradling me in a spooning position, I softly hummed to myself a song my mother used to sing me to sleep.

"There will never be a better thing for you to do than be by my side doing this." He whispered into my ear softly like a devil calling out temptation, once again swaying me to his cause I could feel brewing in his own mind.

"I know...but your methods make me wonder. You and Charles are like two peas in a pod and yet couldn't be more different in that department." I turned halfway where he could see my face as he moved a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Charles' ideals are very noble, but naïve. He doesn't understand our point of view and never will. If given the chance, would you have stopped the third Reich before it became what it did?" His voice was steely and calculating, as if he had rehearsed this to himself before.

"Of course I would. Without hesitation, but how can we even compare the rest of the human race to that evil? I am just a little hesitant to jump to the conclusion they will all turn on us. I must look at this from every angle possible, not for our sake but for theirs, Erik. For everything I've learned of myself and mutants lately, I have realized they are the ones in danger of bringing about their ruin, not ours. I tread very softly to avoid the destruction of all of our humanity." He remained silent and we left the conversation at that, there obviously was no point to debate at this moment.

We both made valid points each time we broached on the subject. Ultimately, I think in the end I was being brought closer and closer to his side and I was becoming less and less disturbed by this fact by the day. I was becoming less attached to humans and more to mutants...I mean after all, what did humans ever do for me?

"Let me hold you. I want sleep with you and just relax for once, as if everything is alright _leibling."_ Is all he had to say, and so we did.

 


	11. Training day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah works on her new power while the rest of the team train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hallo, Liebe= Hello, love
> 
> Gute Nacht meine Herren= Good night gentlemen

The last few days were critical, we all were working hard to hone our skills, even Erik. I stood outside the mansion briefly watching Erik and Charles. I wasn't worried that Charles held a gun up to my lover's head because they were training. I walked inside and joined Raven in our planned boxing session for the hour.

"You're lucky, you know." Raven said, hitting the punching bag I held in place.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you have him. He's a natural leader, he's good looking...and most of all he's powerful."

"While those are all likeable traits, that's not the reason I'm with him, Raven." Raven alternated a few punches with kicks, then gave me my turn.

"But still. He doesn't hinder you, really the opposite. I envy that."

"Are you saying that because you think Charles does that to you?" I jabbed at the bag quickly, choosing fast hits over more forceful ones that would take more energy.

"I won't lie, yes. Sometimes he makes me feel conflicted about who I am. I know he doesn't mean to, but still. I hate having to hide, we shouldn't have to."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I wish it were easier for you." I flexed my bandaged hands, thinking to myself how it must have been hard for mutants like Raven that couldn't easily hide their mutations, and trying to fit into society.

"Let's just get back to training. Want to go for a run?" We abandoned the punching bag and started at the door, but not before I threw an arm over the younger woman's shoulder.

"Sure, whoever has the faster lap time around the mansion gets free ice cream from the other person?" I winked at her.

"Oh, you're on!"

After we got back from grabbing ice cream (Raven beat me by a minute), I joined up with Charles who was getting ready to go underground with Alex.

"Mind if I tag along?" I chirped up just as Charles was going to lead the way into the elevator.

"Of course not! You might learn a thing or two actually."

"My stepfather took the possibility of nuclear war quite seriously. That is why he had this bunker built down here." Charles led us through the doors, with Alex carrying a mannequin.

"I thought we could use it as a practice range of sorts." He walked us through the long bunker hall to the very end where the mannequin could be set down.

"You don't think I'm going to blow through the walls?" Alex as ever was unsure, but Charles just laughed in reply.

"He had this place built to withstand a nuclear bomb. I think it can handle you, Alex. You too, Leah. I want you to keep working on your power."

"Right! I don't think I'm going to need the mannequin though. Good luck, Alex." I was feeling confident, but nonetheless believed I would be better suited to work on my power in the corner.

"You know, when I do this, bad things tend to happen." The three of us doubled back down the hall, away from the mannequin.

"That's because you can't control it. It controls you. That's why we're here, Alex. It's why we're training." Charles cooley said, not in the least worried.

"If you're serious about me doing this, you might want to get back." Alex definitely wasn't wrong in warning us, I knew his first attempt would more than likely not go well.

"All right, Leah. Shall I shut the door?" He nodded to me as we made our way to the doors.

"Please do."

"I have a bad feeling about this." I shook my head, waiting for the worst to happen.

"Have some faith, Leah. It takes time and practice." A muffled blast sound came from the other side, making Charles think he had been right. When he opened the door, my idea was confirmed as half of the room was lined in flames.

"Oh, my god!" Charles quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and went to work.

Alex's face did not hide his disappointment, which made me feel bad.

"I will teach you to control this, Alex." While the Brit focused on extinguishing the flames, I took out a chair that was propped against a wall and sat on it.

I tuned everything else out and slowed my breathing, bringing out the energy in my hand. I used all of my concentration, picturing in my mind an orb and it slowly became a reality. The plasma formed into a ball and I held it steady in the palm of my hand. When Charles was done, the two men walked back over to me and saw what I was doing.

"Very good! I can tell you're improving. Do you feel faint at all this time?" A bead of sweat appeared on Charles' forehead from all the heat in the bunker.

"For once I feel fine. It feels like since my head is level and I'm not upset, there's this...clarity. Like I can finally access my powers." I looked up and could tell Charles and Alex were relieved to hear it.

"At least one of us can control it." Alex was glad, but you could tell he was still sullen about not controlling his own.

"Alex, let's take a break. Say, come back in an hour? Hank says he's working on something for you that could help tremendously. I need a moment alone with Leah, if you don't mind."

Alex nodded compliantly and left us to speak alone.

"Poor kid. I don't know what I'd do if my power was as uncontrollable as it is for him."

"Leah, I think emotional control is key to your powers. You said it yourself, you feel in control and all the other times you weren't is when you couldn't control it. The question is, what's changed since then to make you more peaceful?" Charles kneeled next to me, concern and care genuine in his voice.

"I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately, trying to figure out who I am in all of this. I think its safe to say its been a pretty rapid journey in such a short time of space, Charles. I can't tell you how grateful I am you came and found me." I couldn't help but smile at my friend.

"I'm glad to have reached out, even if the circumstances aren't the best. We will get through all of this. Now, would you like to practice some more?"

"Hell yes, I do!" I rushed out of my seat, faster than Charles could react and bounded back into the bunker.

"Fantastic. Can you conjure that ball up again?" He walked behind me and took his place.

"I think I know what you're getting at. Alright." I took a deep breath, steadying myself once more. Now that we knew I could focus the energy, the next subject is what I could do with it.

As I clenched my right hand, I brought it back and felt the power emanate in my palm. It was powerful, but I could tell it wasn't as deadly as the power of Havok...yet.

"Good girl, now I suppose you can try throwing it?" Charles took one more step back out of caution just in case.

"I'm already ahead of you!" I drew my right foot back as if one was throwing a baseball, but kept my hand clenched with the energy still within it.

I threw my arm back and released my hand, putting everything I had into it. A flood of relief washed over me as the ball was flung forward and hit the nearby wall, sending multiple flames dispersing from the contact. They were about half the size of the flames that Havok would leave behind, but it was something.

"I did it!" I jumped up in glee and was met with a hug from Charles.

"Marvelous, I knew you could do it!"

"I'm going to go tell Erik. See you later?"

"Of course, darling." I started to walk backwards, my happiness not keeping me in one place at the time.

"Thank you again, Charles." I sent him a wink and found my way back the ground floor of the mansion.

"Erik! There you are!" I caught him walking down one of the halls after I passed the room Raven had been working out in. As I passed by, she had changed into her natural blue form, unlike how she usually was seen. She had just changed back into her long dark sleeveless dress, and when she locked eyes with me, she changed back into her human form.

"Hallo, Liebe. You look like you've just had a good workout." He pulled his hands out of his pocket and brought the back of his hand to feel my temperature.

"Yeah, I was just in the bunker with Charles and Alex. You should have seen it, I was amazing! I'm improving and it feels like nothing I've ever experienced." I leaned up on my toes and kissed him on the lips.

"I'm proud of you, Leah! I knew you could do it. Hank mentioned to me it was only a matter of time before you started to improve. He says he's been doing constant tests on your DNA, along with Raven's for research." We walked arm and arm to the living room where it looked like Alex and Raven were peaking out the window.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

"Hank made some sort of cape for Sean to wear. His screams are supposed to carry him so he can fly." Raven told me, peering out the window.

Erik settled in the middle of the two and I stole a quick glance with what room was left to squeeze in. Sean looked worried as he crossed his heart. Unfortunately, his nervousness didn't quite work well the first time and he ended up falling flat on his face in the bushes!

"Maybe you should try something bigger!" Erik called out to Charles, who was at the other window with Hank.

"Ouch...can someone help me?" Sean called out, pulling a fig out of his mouth.

"Coming!" Hank called out, but not before he took off his shoes. In three seconds, he was already out of the mansion and next to the shrubs, helping the young man up.

For the rest of the day, Charles continued working with mainly Alex and Sean, while I worked in the back courtyard with several targets. Erik at first watched me, until it was his turn to work with Charles again. I had set up three targets in different positions that were far enough from the mansion to not pose a threat, just in case my energy got out of hand. My first practice strategy was hitting each of them as accurately and with as much power as possible. It took a couple of tries on the accuracy part, but eventually I hit all three spots and burned them quite well. With Erik watching, I pushed the boundaries, wanting to impress him but also reminding myself I needed to be at the top of my game as soon as possible.

"As far as I'm concerned, with time and progress, there could be no limit with what you can do once you take on a new power." Erik's voice was that of a mentor and I listened to everything he had to say.

"That's what I'm working for." The second round I focused more on how quickly I could hit all three targets consecutively, which is a bit harder because accuracy is still very much involved.

I went on for an hour before I stopped myself for a break, feeling fatigued from all of the exertion. That was when Charles conveniently arrived to work with Erik. I decided to sit back on a bench, but not before stealing a kiss from Erik.

"I do hope you're not going to point a gun at him again, Charles!" I teased the pair.

"Oh, no. We're going to challenge him with something much bigger this time.

They walked out further past the grass and concrete to the end of the property that had an entire view of the huge satellite in the distance. I was unable to hear them at that point, so i just sat back and observed them from the bench I sat on. At Erik's first attempt to move it, he failed. My acute vision absentmindedly narrowed in on the pair from the distance, and what I saw moved me.

Charles' hand was to his temple, with Erik half turned looking at him. His face was full of sadness, but I could not tell why. After a few moments, Charles stopped and I could see the two had wiped away tears. I silently goaded on Erik to try moving the dish again, and cheered in my head as he raised his right hand, slowly turning it.

"Erik, that was amazing!" I ran up to the pair and clasped Erik on the shoulder.

"Well done." They laughed happily, Charles patting him on the back.

"Hey! The President is about to make his address." Moira called out to us from a window.

Charles left us alone to hurry inside, but before we left I spoke to Erik.

"How did Charles help you? Whatever he did, it was amazing." I put my hand over his.

"He gave me something to remember that I thought I lost long ago. It reminded me that even I'm capable of good." He kissed the side of my head and pulled me by the hand to make it inside in time for the address.

" _It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line that surrounds Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."_

I sat next to Charles and Moira on the sofa and took in the small picture on the television.

"That's where we're going to find Shaw." Erik pointed to the television, indicating Cuba.

"How do you know?" Alex asked.

"Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War III. He won't leave anything to chance." Charles said.

"So much for diplomacy. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep." Erik turned and walked off, leaving us to wonder what our next step was.

"We're going to have to stop him ourselves, aren't we?" I asked worriedly, not particularly fond of being right in the middle of a potential war zone of two world powers.

"That's what it's looking like, but I have faith in all of you." Charles said to us.

Our time to prepare was suddenly cut short, but thankfully because of Charles and Hank's hard work over the last couple of days, we had formed into a capable team. I went back to practicing with my powers for another hour before Hank found me.

"Hey, I have your latest test in."

"Oh great, another test. What do you have this time?" I sighed, wondering if this would be the last.

"I've noticed over the time you've spent with Raven, your cellular structure has been altered slightly." We sat down together and looked at the paperwork he had brought.

"Oh, no. You're not going to tell me I'm going to turn blue now, are you? No offense to her, of course." I laughed nervously.

"No, I don't think you have to worry about adding changing appearances to your resume. Your cells aging process is slowing down though. Not quite as slow as hers, as I told her yesterday."

"She ages at half the rate, right? She mentioned that." I thought to myself at how wonderful it would be to age like that.

"Yeah. I was able to make a model projecting in the future how old you would look compared to your actual age. Ten years from now, you'll look like you're in your late twenties instead of mid thirties. But that's just going off of the current data. You might be able to eventually slow down your age process to be the equivalent of Raven's, it's certainly a possibility!"

"Hank, that's crazy. Thank you for helping me understand all of this, I don't know what I'd do without you and Charles." I kissed him on the cheek and hugged him in gratification.

"You're welcome, Leah."

I thought about what this news meant. It meant that I'd stay young for longer, but Erik would continue to age. It left me in a hard spot. As I was walking the halls, I overheard Charles and Erik talking. I quietly slipped up to the door and thanked that it was left ajar.

"I'm not going to stop Shaw. I'm going to kill him. Do you have it in you to allow that?" I noticed as they played chess, they had changed their outfits from working out earlier.

"You've known all along why I was here, Charles. But things have changed. What started as a covert mission, tomorrow, mankind will know that mutants exist. Shaw, us, they won't differentiate. They'll fear us. And that fear will turn to hatred." Erik knowingly said, and I couldn't deny it.

"Not if we stop a war. Not if we can prevent Shaw. Not if we risk our lives doing so." Charles fervently claimed, not willing to believe the worst in humanity.

"Would they do the same for us?" Erik asked. I suddenly felt bad for eavesdropping, so I decided it was better I show myself.

"No, they wouldn't. At least not the majority." I chimed in with my hands in my pockets. I sat down in the middle of the room and poured myself a drink.

"We have it in us to be the better men." Charles persisted, not perturbed at our stubbornness.

"We already are. We're the next stage of human evolution. You said it yourself!"

"No…" Charles brought his drink to his lips and looked down. I couldn't tell if deep down a part of him believed Erik, or he was just trying to avoid conflict.

"Are you really so naive as to think that they won't battle their own extinction? Or is it arrogance?" Erik was confident in pushing Charles' buttons.

"He's right, Charles." I couldn't help but say. I didn't want to believe it, but there were some hard truths that had to be faced...and I would rather be realistic than delusional.

"I'm sorry?"

"After tomorrow, they're going to turn on us. But you're blind to it, because you believe they're all like Moira."

"And you believe they're all like Shaw. Listen to me very carefully, my friend. Killing Shaw will not bring you peace." He looked him square in the eye, worried about the path his friend would go down.

"Peace was never an option." There was no swaying Erik.

"Look, I get what you're both trying to say. Two different ideologies...you preach peace and you're all about the action. Me, I'm in the middle. I'll try using diplomacy and education to combat ignorance and hatred as much as possible, but I'm not naive either. Charles, you have to be prepared to defend yourself from people that would harm us. Erik...you can't just go killing people because you're paranoid all of them want you dead! Ugh, this debate is becoming a headache. Gute Nacht meine Herren." I finished my drink and left the two. I found my way back to our room and slipped under the bed covers once I was ready for bed. Erik was back less than an hour later.

"You know, I enjoy the look on your face when you get flustered." He pulled his black sweater over his head and kicked off his shoes.

"Because you enjoy driving me crazy?" I laid on my back and let my hair splay across the pillow.

"Because it reminds me of the fiery woman I've fallen in love with." He slid under the covers and propped his head up in his hand.

"I want you to know, whatever happens tomorrow...I'm on your side."

"I know." In response, I kissed him before turning over and letting him put his arm over me, slowly drifting off to sleep.


	12. Becoming Memoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah faces off between the decision she's been dreading since becoming close to all of the X-Men, once again changing the course of her life forever.

When I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, I had no vision of what would come to pass in the next few hours. Our mission made me feel determined, but in the back of my mind I silently pondered my doubts about the future. Last night I played the peacemaker between Erik and Charles, but could I keep doing that? I knew as time passed I was leaning in one direction more and more, and nothing seemed to stop me from the spiral. Slowly but surely I was becoming the mutant I was meant to be and not the average human I pretended. Less than two weeks ago, I was what appeared to be a plain, Jewish born German-American that had made no impact on the world. Now I was about to embark on the first day of the rest of my life changing the world.

X-x-X-x-X

"Hank has been busy." Erik said as we peered into the crate Hank had left us.

"Do we really have to wear these?" Maybe it was the yellow Alex wasn't fond of.

"As none of us mutated to endure extreme g-force or being riddled by bullets, I suggest we suit up." Charles said, preparing to bring the crate of suits with us to the airbase where we would meet up with Hank.

"Does anyone find it odd that Hank left early and his lab is in complete disarray?" I said.

"I suppose we'll find out when we meet him there." Charles said, and that we did.

An hour later, we stood in front of the blackbird all suited up gazing at it.

"Where is Hank?" Raven was the first to raise concern why we still hadn't seen him since yesterday. We looked at her and didn't notice the figure in the distance until he called out.

"I'm here." It was clearly Hank's voice, but the shadowed figure did not seem like it was him. As he drew closer, our faces were slowly filled with surprise.

"Hank?" Charles asked, with confusion on his face.

"It didn't attack the cells. It enhanced them. It didn't work." He came into view and my face was filled with disbelief. The serum he had created had turned him the same blue color Raven was, and his features had grew to be more lion-like.

"Yes, it did, Hank. Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be. This is you. No more hiding." Raven stepped forward and put a hand to his face, reassuring him.

"You never looked better, man." At first Hank seemed to accept her words, but did not take Erik's the right way. He grabbed the man by the throat, which automatically got me on the defensive.

"Hank!" We both said, but my urgency was stronger. I looked to Charles to get him to stop, I knew I couldn't force Hank to, but desperately wanted to. Seeing Erik choke like that more than made me uncomfortable. Hank snarled, agitated.

"Don't mock me!" He said slowly, his anger not receding.

"Charles, if you don't make him stop I will." My hand balled, warming at the ready to bring my power out.

"Hank, put him down immediately, please. Hank!" I was frustrated at Charles with his pacificity, but relieved when Hank did listen.

"I wasn't." Erik said sarcastically when he was dropped to the floor.

I dropped down to make sure he was okay and was surprised at how cavalier the rest of their responses were.

"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass. I think I got a new name for you. Beast." Alex said, having finally dropped his teasing of the scientist. I gave them all a weird look as we rose back up, Erik regaining his composure.

"You're sure you can fly this thing?" Sean asked. Hank had calmed himself and it had been like the little tiff had never happened.

"Of course I can. I designed it." Hank said, before leading us on board the aircraft.

I grasped Erik's hand as we were the last ones to board.

"I'm sure he didn't really mean it, he did just go through a life altering change." I reminded both myself and Erik.

"I guess I'll have to watch out for that one from now on."

We hurried on board and just barely made it to Cuba on time. The Russian freighter carrying the bombs was approaching the embargo line. We were secured firmly on the blackbird, but the jerking motions as we made our rounds around the area made us all nervous.

"It looks pretty messy out there." Hank said.

"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there." Charles told us, looking at Erik and myself.

"He's still here, somewhere." Erik knew Shaw would stick around to see his plan through.

"He set the ship on course for the embargo line." Charles said.

"If that ship crosses the line, our boys are going to blow it up. And the war begins." Moira said from the cockpit.

"Unless they're not our boys." Charles knew the only thing that could be done to avoid a war was if the Russian's fired on their own ship, so he had to do something.

Moments later, we were violently jolted upside down as a missile went sailing through the air to destroy the Russian ship that had just moved to the embargo line.

Raven and myself screamed; it was like riding an inverted roller coaster which hadn't even been invented yet. Seconds later, Hank was able to flip us back over.

"A little warning next time, Professor."

"Sorry about that. You all right?" I looked over to my right and saw Charles and Sean still laying a protective arm over Raven.

"Yeah." Sean nervously said, shaken.

"I think I forgot to mention I'm scared of being upside down at a very high altitude!" I told the group, laughing.

"That was inspired, Charles." Moira complemented from the cockpit, busy with working the instruments.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw." Charles left his finger to his temple, trying in vain to get a location on the elusive mutant.

"He's down there. We need to find him now." Erik's voice was urgent.

"Hank?"

"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?" Hank asked Moira.

"No. Nothing."

"Well, then he must be underwater. And obviously, we don't have sonar." Erik sighed at Hank's conclusion.

"Yes, we do." Realization dawned on Sean's face.

"Yes, we do." Charles and Erik unbuckled with Sean, starting to make their way to the middle of the jet.

"I think I'm just gonna stay here for now." I quickly switched seats to be next to Raven, before the jet started to become uneven.

"Hank, level the bloody plane!" Charles struggled making his way down to the center with Erik and Sean.

"Whoa! You back right off." Sean issued a warning, pointing his finger because he didn't want Erik to push him from such a high distance like he did from the satellite. Erik opened his arms, knowing better than to try that trick again.

"Beast, open the bomb bay doors!" Sean was no longer scared.

"Remember, this is a muscle! You control it! You'll be in _here_ the entire time! We'll see you soon! On my mark! Three! Two! One! Go!" Charles had to yell once the doors were opened.

"As soon as this damn thing lands…" I popped my knuckles, ready to stop Shaw once and for all.

"Banshee has got a location on Shaw. Are you ready for this?" I heard Charles say to Erik, both men holding on above them to steady themselves.

"Let's find out." Erik said to his friend, then came over to me.

"I want to be there. When you confront Shaw!" My voice was final, I would not let him sway me.

"I'd tell you no, but I already know that's pointless." Before I could reply, he kissed me. Our lips lingered for a moment, I wished it could last longer. He walked back to the doors that were being re-opened and readied himself to pull the submarine out of the ocean.

"Erik, I love you!" I called out when I unbuckled myself and stood up as he walked away.

"I know." He turned back and grabbed onto the landing gear that was lowered out of the jet. I carefully made my way to where Charles was because I couldn't stand just sitting around while Erik and Charles did the heavy work.

Erik reached out his hand and for several moments struggled, pulling the submarine from the water. It didn't last long though, he found the place within himself to succeed where he had previously failed.

"Yes!" I hugged Charles, but our victory did not last long. As we neared the Cuban beach with the submarine in tow, I narrowed in my vision and saw Riptide was ready for us.

"Erik!"

"Erik, take my hand!" Charles yelled out as a huge cyclone was thrown our way. The cyclone took the whole jet in, violently shaking us as Beast tried to steer the jet away from it. I reached out to Erik with Charles' help and were just barely able to pull him up at the last second to avoid losing him. The doors closed but we were still hit by the cyclone, losing a part of our wing. We tumbled out of the sky, Charles and myself about to be thrown, but became protected by Erik as he shielded us in place.

Our natural reaction was to scream in fear until the blackbird slowed its roll to a stop on the beach; thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

"Moira? Moira, are you all right?" I could hear Charles immediately checking on everyone else.

"Erik, are you okay?" Concern for my loved one was the first thing on my mind, next to high levels of adrenaline pumping through my system.

He nodded, bringing his face close to mine and kissed me. I let my tousled, wavy hair cascade to my shoulders, taking out my hair band before we regained our composure and went to the window to look out.

"I read the teleporter's mind. Shaw is drawing all the power out of his sub. He's turning himself into some sort of nuclear bomb."

"We got no time. The Geiger count is going out of control."

"Moira, this is what we're going to do. Get on the radio and tell them to clear both fleets out immediately."

"I'm going in." Erik said without fear in his voice.

"Beast, Havok, back him up. Memoria, we may need you here as well. Erik, I can guide you through once you're in, but I need you to shut down whatever it is that's blocking me, then we just hope to God it's not too late for me to stop him." Charles quickly formulated the plan, but I had no plan of following through with it if Erik ended up needing me.

"Got it."

"Good luck!" The four of us quickly left the remains of the black bird, and saw Azazel, Angel, and Riptide ready to confront us.

"Angel's mine." I declared, knowing how it would go down.

Before Riptide could send another cyclone our way, Havok used a new sensor on his suit to blast him hard, knocking him out. Beast and Havok were quickly distracted by Azazel which teleported them away.

"Erik, go! Don't worry about me!" He had hesitated at first before continuing onto the submarine, which I appreciated but knew there wasn't any time for.

Angel flew towards me, spewing a spitball of acid my way that I narrowly avoided. Erik reluctantly moved forward, tearing a hole out of the side of the submarine. At first, Angel went to follow him, but I quickly reacted.

I gathered up my energy and sent it hurtling at her, knocking her down.

"Hey, little girl, where do you think you're going?" I called out. She pushed herself up and was ready to go back up in the air when I yanked on her foot.

"Oh, come on. Why don't we settle this like ladies? Or do I have to take those wings of yours away from you?" I smiled, hoping the taunt would get to her.

"Alright, bitch. We'll do this your way." She jumped forward, going for my hair. I screamed from the pain it caused my scalp but did not take long to react.

Using all of my body weight, I picked her body up and slammed her into the ground with mine. Angel did not let me out of her grasp as we fought on the sand. She started to form the acid in her mouth again, this time worrying me as she was only a couple of feet within my face. I charged my hands up and shocked her body away from me, the force throwing her several feet. I was ready to charge her this time, but instead she chose to fly away before I could get to her.

"Get back here, you hussy!" I called out but was unable to hit her this time.

"Charles! Where on the submarine is Erik?" I called out, expecting Charles to answer me telepathically.

_"He's in the middle of the vessel. If you're going to help him, you need to hurry. He's just disabled the nuclear reactor. Leah, he's going to kill Shaw if we don't stop him!_ " Charles frantically added emphasis on the last part.

"I can't promise anything." I ran inside, not stopping to wonder where Erik was. My mind flashed back to only seconds past as Erik came to an all white room. It looked like a dead end.

_"There's no one here, God damn it!"_ Erik frantically exclaimed, until a secret passage opened up.

" _Erik. What a pleasant surprise."_

I ran as fast as I could, I couldn't let Erik do this by himself. There was some shred of humanity I held onto...that I could never give up. It was for this reason I pushed forward, not knowing what I would do when I got there.

"Erik, wait! I'm not letting you do this by yourself." I reached the white room just as Erik exited it. In the middle of the next room Shaw stood surrounded by mirror's.

"Ah, Ms. Braun is here as well! I was just reminiscing with Erik." Shaw wore the same protective helmet over his head as he did before. He was strangely calm and collected.

"Erik, we can stop him. But we don't have to kill him. I don't want to see you become the monster he is!" I was scared for what future would become of Erik, I knew I wouldn't convince him but I still tried. If I didn't try, then I really didn't love him.

"Leah, stay behind me." Erik said, not looking back as the door closed behind us.

"May I ask you something? Why are you on their side? Why fight for a doomed race who will hunt us down as soon as they realize their reign is coming to an end?" Erik answered by punching him as hard as he could. Shaw's face contorted like it did when it absorbed energy, his face not revealing any pain. I moved to Erik's side, not heeding his warning.

"I'm sorry for what happened in the camps. I truly am." Shaw then put his finger to Erik's forehead and sent him backwards into the wall.

"No!" I lunged at Shaw, knowing my effort was futile but trying nonetheless. Shaw grabbed me by the chin, his power keeping me firmly in place.

"I wish I could make you see I'm not your enemy."

"You killed his mother and you were a Nazi. Go to Hell." He released me, throwing me down to the floor and returning his attention to Erik.

"Everything I did, I did for you. To unlock your power, to make you embrace it." It looked like he was about to help Erik up, but instead sent him flying across the room again. I could hear Charles echoing in our minds since part of the mirror's had broken.

_"It's working! I'm starting to see him, but I can't yet touch his mind._ " I desperately sent out in my mind for Charles to get over here, wondering why he stayed put in the aircraft instead of trying to reach us.

"You've come a long way from bending gates. I'm so proud of you." Erik got up and looked at me, I could tell he was about to do something. I backed myself up against the wall, scared but trusting him.

Erik brought several beams down from the ceiling, trying any way to make the man vulnerable.

"And you're just starting to scratch the surface. Think how much farther we could go together." Shaw pushed through the beams, even the one Erik tried to hold up and backed him up against the wall.

"Stop, don't hurt him Shaw, please! He's not going to stop until he kills you." I tried to reach the pair, but Erik kept the beams obstructed in my way.

_'I love you Leah.'_ Of all the memories that were flowing through Erik's mind right now, he held onto that one knowing I would see it. It killed me as he groaned in struggle against the powerful mutant.

"I don't think that will be a problem. I don't want to hurt you, Erik. I never did. I want to help you. This is our time. Our age. We are the future of the human race. You and me, son. And her if you can get her in line. Both of you are going to be very powerful one day. This world could be ours."

"Everything you did made me stronger. It made me the weapon I am today. It's the truth. I've known it all along." As Erik looked down, I saw tears brimming in his eyes and felt them on mine. He looked up and his resolve changed when I saw what he was about to do.

"You are my creator. Now, Charles!" He used a stray cable to take the helmet off and I knew Shaw was a dead man. Charles obeyed, with some effort keeping Shaw in stasis.

Erik let the beam drop and cleared the way for me to stand next to him. He put a hand briefly to my cheek and then proceeded to take the helmet.

"Sorry, Charles."

_"Erik, please. Be the better man. Erik, there will be no turning back!"_

"It's not that I don't trust you." He put the helmet on, drowning out Charles' protests, but instead they just went to me.

This was going to be done, there was no stopping it. I had accepted it, but Charles had not. That didn't mean that it still didn't hurt me. I gritted my teeth, trying hard to drown out Charles' voice.

" _Leah, please! I know you're better than this!"_

Charles echoed in my mind, making it more stressful as I struggled with my inner turmoil. I was torn, I desperately wished I could oblige Charles but my heart told me otherwise. Erik was my soul, I could not deny him.

"If you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with every word you said. We are the future." Erik turned and walked away for a moment, then turned back to face Shaw.

"But, unfortunately, you killed my mother. This is what we're going to do." In Erik's hand he held up the silver Nazi coin that had haunted him since he was a boy. The very thing that Shaw had used to unlock Erik's rage.

" _No. Please, Erik, no."_

" _It can't be stopped Charles, it never could…"_ I echoed back to Charles in my mind, resigned to Shaw's fate.

"I'm going to count to three and I'm going to move the coin. One."

" _Please, Erik."_ Charles' voice was drenched with desperation, pleading through me. My eyes teared up and my heart sank.

" _Charles, you'll never understand what we went through. I'm sorry."_ The coin levitated steadily towards Shaw, making my breath hitch in response.

"Two. Three." Erik's facade portrayed nothing but cool, calculating demeanor as the coin pierced Shaw's forehead.

Charles' ensuing scream brought me to my knees, I felt all of it. I struggled to regain control, to get him out of my mind and succeeded once the coin had exited through the back of Shaw's skull. My breathing had turned ragged from the mental struggle within myself, but subsided when Erik turned to me, offering me his hand.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked as I rose up, feeling a surreal numbness to the whole situation.

"Be by my side as we bring our brothers and sisters together." Before I could say anything, Erik levitated Shaw and started to make his way back to the outside. I followed suit, reminding myself this is the man that changed so much about me in such little time, but had also given me such strength and love. As crazy as it was to let him kill someone, my love for Erik was stronger than my doubt and willpower.

"Today, our fighting stops!" Erik called out to everyone on the beach as he lowered Shaw's lifeless form to the ground. Before exiting through the huge hole, he lowered me down since there was metal on my uniform. Angel, Riptide, and Azazel stood over to the right, the rest of our group assembled to the left. We all stayed silent, soaking in what Erik preached.

"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters. The real enemy is out there. I feel their guns moving in the water, their metal targeting us." He pointed out towards the ships and moved forward. Charles and Moira came forward meeting up with us in caution.

"Americans, Soviets, humans. United in their fear of the unknown. The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants! Go ahead, Charles. Tell me I'm wrong." Charles had only to put his finger to his temple to know Erik was telling the truth. The truth he had claimed all along that humans would turn on us once they knew our full power!

Two nations of naval fleet sent all they had at us, but I did not fear as the younger mutants did. I stood my ground next to Erik, fully trusting in his capability to protect us from the onslaught of torpedoes that were on their way to the beach. Erik caught every single one of them when he rose his hand in the air, getting ready to turn them back.

"Erik, you said yourself, we're the better men. This is the time to prove it." Charles said, trying to convince Erik one last time to change his mind.

I once again was stuck in the middle, one last thread that resembled any sort of connection with the humans remained. I couldn't tell you why I had held onto it for so long, humans had never done any good to me. The only exception was my parents, and they were both dead because of one group singling them out for being different. They were the only humans I had ever loved and they were murdered.

"There are thousands of men on those ships. Good, honest, innocent men! They're just following orders." That is what struck a chord with not only Erik, but myself. We looked over to Charles with an almost pained expression on our face, and it was at this realization that I gave my blessing; the thread disappeared. I owed humans nothing.

"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again." Turning back his attention to the fleets, Erik balled his fist and threw it to the sky, propelling the weapons right back.

"Erik, release them!" Charles yelled, as everyone stood in a trance. I felt it was as if no one could stand up to Erik, they were scared of him deep down. When Erik did not flinch at his command, it was then finally Charles was willing to take action for what he believed in.

"No!" He rushed him, taking him down to the ground.

"Erik! Charles!" I panicked, I didn't know what to do with my love and friend fighting. I went to separate the two but was blocked, feeling Charles plant my feet firmly to the ground. I knew if I fought hard enough, he would not be able to telepathically hold me as he was too distracted fighting Erik.

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't make me!" Erik threw his elbow into Charles' head, just as our friends started to advance towards us.

"Stand back!" Erik held Charles to the ground, throwing Banshee, Havok, and Beast backwards but choosing not to with Mystique. He knew deep down she was not going to go against him. I used every muscle in my legs to move, but still could not as I was not a powerful telepath like Charles was.

"Stop this! This is madness!" I yelled futilely, not wanting these brothers to be broken apart by humans that were trying to get rid of us.

"Charles, that's enough!" As Erik and Charles grabbed at each other, he rose his free arm to regain control of the remaining torpedoes guided to their trajectory.

"Erik, stop!" He made a grab for the helmet, earning him a punch which gave Erik the opportunity to rise up and continue.

Just when it looked like Erik would succeed, Moira was the only one to step up in defense of the humans. Gun in hand, she strode forward shooting at Erik. I could not tell if her intentions were to kill him or just wound him, all I knew was if I wasn't stuck in place, she would probably be dead for trying.

"Moira, no!" My heart skipped a beat, I felt like I could not breathe. Erik deflected the bullets, but it was the last one that mattered.

Just as Charles had got up, the bullet ricocheted into his back. His hold on me immediately released as he lost control of his body. I fell forward to him, tears streaming down my face. I never wanted this to happen! I looked to Erik helplessly, and his face reflected the same. Erik hurried to his back and pulled out the bullet as I held Charles' head in support.

"No, no, no, no, no….." I stammered, distraught I failed my friend that deserved so much more.

"I'm so sorry. I said back off!" I was the only one that Erik would let near them, none of the other mutants were granted that even though they tried to run to us.

"You. You did this." Erik's eyes narrowed to the brunette that was not one of us and his face filled with anger as he began to choke her with her dog tag. I did not care nor could begin to say anything, my only focus was on seeing if Charles was alright.

"Erik. Please. She didn't do this, Erik. You did." Charles gritted through his teeth in pain.

"Us turning on each other, it's what they want. I tried to warn you, Charles. I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I. All of us together, protecting each other. We want the same thing." My heart shattered to see this, Erik so desperately wanting to keep his friendship, to make him see his way.

"My friend. I'm sorry, but we do not." The laugh that came from Charles was bittersweet as a tear ran down his face.

With the back of my hand I stifled a sob for how sad this friendship had become, because I knew it was the end of it ultimately. It mattered so much to me, more than anything else had in my life and that was now lost. Now I had to force myself to accept it because the choice I would make next was even more important. I knew Erik had already made it when his expression turned and he motioned for Moira to take over Charles' side.

"Charles! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Moira rushed to him and I chose to linger a moment longer, dreading the inevitable.

"It's all right. It's all right." He grunted as she tried to gently shift him under her knees.

_You have no idea how sorry I am Charles..._

"This society won't accept us. We form our own. The humans have played their hand. Now we get ready to play ours. Who's with me? No more hiding." Erik reached out to Raven.

She limped towards him, but not before going to Charles first. I rose, not joining Erik's side but looking at what I'd be missing if I left with him.

Charles Xavier. Alex Summers. Sean Cassidy. Hank McCoy.

I saw all of the potential memories that would be made choosing a life of teaching others. In my mind I saw many gifted youngsters that would grace those halls. I would help the hopeful mutant that wanted to teach them like he did with me. It looked like hope. Doing that would sacrifice the dearest person to me as he walked another path.

Without him to hold in my arms every day would be like to never be fulfilled, which was the same as to die. Choosing the selfish path was not as selfish as it seemed though. I knew the latter path couldn't last as long if those very same gifted youngsters were in danger. That one very powerful man was willing to stand up and protect those gifted youngsters from dangers that were imminent.

I saw what the humans were capable of, so I would protect my own, because without them there was no family. Without love and family you are nothing. True love or friendship. Education or protection. Inaction or action. That is what my path in life came down to. I let my fear and doubt fade just like a scar on my mind and made my decision.

He was the path. No more hiding.

My steps were painstakingly heavy as I walked to destiny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the end of part one of this story! What did you guys think? Obviously this chapter wasn't so much focused on dialogue as it was on the climax of one threat... and then there's the inner turmoil of Leah who has become torn between not only if she follows the love of her life (turning her back on Charles effectively), but also an internal choice to realize where she stands philosophically in the mutant/human debate. DoFP is up next.


	13. Every day is exactly the same

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten years later, Leah has sunken into a deep depression and alcoholism following the events between First Class and Days of future past, until the appearance of one mutant sets important events into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://s392.photobucket.com/user/LadySarella/media/e203df5b-f12b-4993-8918-c573c9b02534_zpsxjn6xfvm.jpg.html)  
> 

All over the bar counter top, was a litter of candy wrappers and cocktail napkins. I started off my night drinking two Bacardi cocktails, but it didn't take long to evolve to my favorite whiskey. Most nights I sat at a bar like this one, sitting in silence (unless a couple drunk men would approach me, then I'd have to wave them off) until the alcohol kicked in.

"Ms. Braun, I think you've had enough tonight." The bartender said to me, his hand on the bar ready to drag my drink away. I had laid my head on my left arm, half asleep on the bar.

"Wha-what are you talking about? I told you, my name is Mem-or-ia! I keep tellin' you this." I sighed, then laughed at my pronunciation.

"You know we closed half an hour ago." He shook his head and then grabbed the telephone on the wall.

"Oh, I see how it is. I thought you'd care a little more about a loyal paying customer! You know, Bob, I could go to any other bar at 4AM, and they'd serve me happily!" I waved my arm around, feeling as if that would emphasize.

"Yeah, well my name's not Bob either. Yes, this is about her again. Alright, thank you for coming." He hung up the phone and went back to putting away shot glasses.

I dragged the glass back to myself before he could dump it out and liberally sipped at it, waiting for my ride to show up. I hated going back, but I had no where else. Stumbling out of my seat, I went to the jukebox and found the song I played almost every night.

" _It's gettin' near dawn, when lights close their tired eyes. I'll soon be with you my love, to give you my dawn surprise. I'll be with you darling soon, I'll be with you when the stars start falling. I've been waiting so long, to be where I'm going in the sunshine of your love."_ I sang along to the song, not noticing when I stumbled into the nearby chairs.

"Bob, I just wanna thank you for being there for me." I always brought enough change with me so I could play the song until the night was over. It played two more times until an interruption with the entrance door opening.

"I'm so sorry for this. Leah, come on." Hank McCoy said to me, his eyes obviously tired.

"Hanky Panky! I was wondering when you'd show up. Now, you tell this fine gentleman over here, my name is Mem-Memoria. I'm getting sick and tired of this shit." I sank down to the chair and started to feel tears in my eyes, not being able to control myself.

"I know, I know. It's gonna be alright." I quietly sobbed to myself, letting my mascara run and not caring.

"No, it's not. You know it's not. You just say that to make me feel better!" I wailed, barely containing a hiccup.

"What does she owe you?" Hank went to the bartender and fished out his wallet.

"I owe exactly, $23.41! And I have exactly $15.36 on me."

"That sounds about right."

"That's exactly right, Bob! I have a verrryyyyy good memory." I tapped my finger to my temple, missing on my first try. I tossed my money at Hank and let him handle the rest, as I laid my head down and quietly sang my favorite song to myself.

"Here's a twenty, on top of what she's got. Keep the change for the trouble." The bartender-who-was-not-named-Bob nodded and Hank came back to me, hoisting me up with my arm over his shoulder.

"See ya later, Bob!" When we got to the car, Hank held open the door for me, making sure I didn't hit my head going in this time.

"Your drinking is getting worse, Leah. How many more times do we have to do this?" He sighed, but nonetheless still caring.

"When we can bring people back from the dead and change the past...is when. You know I don't like going back there. I can take care of myself." I wrapped my arms around me, letting my hands warm me by radiating low levels of heat.

"No, you can't. You're worse off than he is, and he definitely needs me to look after him." We soon came upon the secluded road that led back to home. If you could call it that.

"The day I stop drinking is when he stops taking that shit that's ruined him. I can promise to that, good luck making that happen!" The words spewed out of my mouth, my filter may have been gone but I still regretted saying them afterwards.

"That's not fair and you know it." He pulled into the driveway and cut the engine.

"I know." I refused his help getting out of the car and making it into the house.

"I'll see you when you get up tomorrow."

"You know, I think about them everyday. Do you think he does?" I said in the entrance hall, knowing he was upstairs.

"Of course he does." Hank's voice was tender, which reminded me of how he was so long ago. I lingered for a moment, then without a word I found my way to my bed and fell asleep.

X-x-X-x-X

The dream was incoherent at best, but certain phrases always stood out. Sometimes I was among a crowd of people, watching the parade go by. Then it would shift to where I saw him in the distance, his hand reached towards the car. I would try to run through the crowd, but the people always blocked me. Immobile, I shouted out to him.

The bullet zoomed through the air, hitting the president. The second one zoomed past from a distance and was re-directed...his face was so intent on his purpose. But it all went wrong. I screamed and screamed until my voice went hoarse, and finally when I got past the crowd, the parade was gone. Before me were dead brothers and sisters.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Please…come back." I sank to my knees and felt the ground wet with blood. Their bodies were so pale and lifeless. I looked up and he was still there, this time looking at me.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this!" I angrily ran up to him, but as I reached him, he disappeared.

"Don't you leave me too! I needed you…" My voice echoed out, but not reaching any one. The dream always ended with me being alone before I woke up drenched in sweat. Sometimes I would wake up screaming, but eventually I became so used to it I stopped screaming. Last night was no different because every day is exactly the same with me now. I checked my clock and saw I had only slept for five hours this time. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, I resigned myself from sleep and went to the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror, my youthful appearance hadn't changed much in ten years. Hank had been right in his hypothesis about my genes aging process slowing down. My hair was longer and straight to the middle of my back, and that was about the only natural thing that had changed about me. The last few years still had not been kind to me. Bags had formed under my eyes once my nightmares had resurfaced.

When I was younger I had dreams about my dead parents, but they had never become as harmful to my life as these dreams had been. It was because I wasn't the same person I was before. The dreams started to creep back up on me eight years ago, and the drinking soon followed. At least the drinking helped soothe the pain.

Putting my robe on, I headed down to the kitchen to grab a glass of orange juice. The house was always quiet now, which is why I preferred to spend my free time away from it. The memories within the walls always nagged at me.

"How late did you stay out this time?" Not paying attention when I walked in, Charles Xavier sat at the table.

"Hank got me around 4." I said quietly, avoiding eye contact as usual.

"I'm surprised you're up this early." He looked through the newspaper and put it away when he spotted an article about the war.

"You know I don't sleep well. You don't have to rub it in my face." I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter.

"You're right, I don't. I'm just having a bad morning."

"It's a bad morning every day, Charles." I turned and left the room, going back to my own. After taking a shower, I sat in my lounge chair listening to records from the previous decade. I pulled out a Lucky Strike from the nightstand and lit it up, savoring the taste and drowning out the world. The last thing I looked at before closing my eyes was the picture of our group we had, including myself and the love of my life.

Hours later after dozing off, I awakened by a heavy knock to the front door. I peered out the window and saw a car in the driveway. I ignored it, but it only took a minute back into my snooze to be interrupted again, this time by a loud sound in the foyer. I hurried out of my room to the stairs where I saw Hank had changed from his human appearance into the Beast.

"What the Hell is going on?" I said as I saw a man get thrown to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hank? What is going on here?" Charles was not far behind me.

"James?" When I got a good look at the man I immediately recognized him, but he did not answer to that name. Hank hung upside down from the chandelier as I cautiously walked down the steps.

My vision flashed as I looked him in the eyes and saw briefly in his memory what had happened to him. I stood with my mouth open before snapping out of my trance.

"Professor?" The man who was no longer James Howlett angled his head, vaguely recognizing Charles.

"Please don't call me that." Charles' appearance looked about as disheveled as my own.

"You know this guy?" Hank said, still upside down in his blue form.

"Yeah, he looks slightly familiar. Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank!" He moved his arm exasperated.

"I remember him perfectly. But he doesn't remember. At least not well enough." My hand rested at the end of the stair rail as I stood next to Hank when he stood upright.

"You can walk?"

"You're a perceptive one." Charles sarcastically said with drink in hand.

"I thought Erik-" I suddenly tensed as he mentioned the name.

"Which is slightly perplexing as you managed to miss our sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend. I'm going to have to ask him to ask you to leave." Charles did not seem to mind at my obvious discomfort to the conversation, he lazily sat down at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, cuz uh, I was sent here for you." Logan said as he straightened up.

"Well, tell whoever it was that sent you, that I'm busy."

"Who sent you?" My intuition gave me a hint, but without using my power it wouldn't have made any sense at all.

"That's going to be a little tricky, because the person who sent me was you." Logan calmly said, regardless of our reactions.

"What?" Both Charles and I said in unison.

"About fifty years from now."

"Fifty years from now, like in the future fifty years from now?" Charles smiled, not believing a word of it.

"Yeah."

"I sent you from the future? Oh, piss off." He looked to Hank and myself.

"If you had your powers you'd know I'm telling the truth." Logan said knowingly.

"How do you know I don't have my-who are you?"

"I told you." Just briefly glancing into this man's mind for a second gave me a headache, but I quickly started believing him.

"Are you CIA?"

"Nope."

"Are you watching me?"

"Charles, let's just say, however farfetched he sounds...I think he's telling the truth." I crossed my arms, troubled by this event.

"I know you, Charles. We've been friends for years. I know your powers came when you were nine, I know you thought you were going crazy when it all started; all the voices in your head, and it wasn't until you were twelve that you realized all the voices were in everyone elses head. Do you want me to go on?" Charles' face went from disbelief to startled as Logan spoke.

"I never told anyone that."

"You obviously told him that at some point!" I said, thinking to myself at how crazy this all looked.

"Not yet, no, but you will." The two men stared at each other for a moment.

"Alright, you've peaked my interest. What do you want?"

"We have to stop Raven. I need your help. We need your help." As Logan's tone turned more somber, so did the expression on our faces.

"I think I'd like to wake up now." Charles rose, walking past us to go into the next room. He patted Hank's shoulder and gave my hand a quick squeeze; a gesture I rarely saw from my best friend.

"What does she have to do with this?" Finally, Hank spoke and his body started to revert back to human.

"Everything." I answered when Logan did not.

X-x-X-x-X

"I know you don't remember me, or maybe you do and you're just not the same as the Jimmy I met. But all the same, it is good to see you again." I touched my fingertips to his cheek, inciting the memory of when I met him in that bar so long ago. He was startled at first, but immediately recognized me once I gave him the hint.

"That was a long time ago. It's nice to see someone from this age that actually knows me." I gave him a faint smile as I led him into the room to speak with Charles.

Logan started filling us in as Charles went to work at pouring us a drink.

"So you're saying, that they took Raven's power, and they weaponized it?"

"Yup."

"Well, she is unique." Hank admitted.

"Yes, she is, Hank." I dared to roll my eyes at Charles. I had always had a mixed relationship with Raven, for reasons mostly to her close relationship with the love of my life.

"In the beginning, the Sentinels were just targeting mutants, but they began to identify the genetics in non-mutants that would eventually have mutant children, grandchildren. Many of the humans tried to help us, it was a slaughter. Leading only the worst of humanity in charge. I've been in a lot of wars. I've never seen anything like this. And it all starts with her."

My stomach dropped as I didn't have to imagine what he was talking about, I saw it clearly in my head.

"Never again." I whispered, clutching my drink close.

"Let's just say for the sake of, the sake I choose to believe you, I choose to help you. Raven won't listen to me. Her heart and soul belong to someone else now." Charles sat slouched on the couch, looking off into the distance.

"Charles." I begrudgingly said, not liking his response.

"I know." Logan rose, determination still in his voice.

"That's why we're going to need Magneto too."

"Erik? You do know where he is?" Hank said.

"Yeah."

"As wrong as I feel to say this, but if Erik was around, do you think I would be here? I wa _s h_ is. I would be with him if there was a way. There isn't." My heart wrenched at the thought. The circumstances of our separation were dreadful, and had been the source of my nightmares. Charles laughed nonsensical and rose before his tone went back to serious.

"He's where he belongs." He said before stalking off, once again not caring about my feelings on Erik.

"That's it, you're just gonna walk out?" Logan protested.

"Oh, top marks, like I said you are perceptive." Charles' sarcasm had come back.

"The professor I know would never turn his back on someone who lost their path. Especially someone he loved." I walked up behind Logan as Charles continued to walk away.

"Logan, please don't." I knew he didn't know the nerve he was touching for the both of us, but I still plead. I didn't want to go back down that road.

"You know, I think I do remember you." He said, turning back around to respond.

"You know?"

"Yeah, we came to you, a long time ago seeking your help. And I'm going to say to you what you said to us then: fuck off!" Charles said to Logan's face with contempt. My hands automatically tensed with warm energy when Logan reacted by quickly grabbing Charles.

"Listen to me you little shit, I've come a long way, and I watched a lot of people die. Good people, friends. If you want to wallow in self pity and do nothing, then you're gonna watch the same thing, you understand?" My breath caught in my throat, I felt like I could barely breathe thinking about it all. Logan caught himself and released Charles.

"We all have to die sometime." Charles stalked off with his drink, my hope with it.

"I told you there was no professor here." Hank said, putting his arm around me in comfort.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"He lost everything."

"We all did. And its part of my fault." I held tears at bay, not being able to say much more than that.

"Erik, Raven, Leah for a time before she came back. Even his legs. We built the school, the labs, this whole place and just after the first semester, the war in Vietnam got worse. Many of the teachers and older students were drafted. I mean, it broke him; he retreated into himself. I wanted to help do something so, I designed this serum to treat his spine, derived from the same formula that helps me control my mutation. I take just enough to keep myself balanced but, he takes too much. I tried easing him back, but he just couldn't bare the pain. The voices...the treatment gives him his legs, but it's not enough. He's...he's just lost too much."

"Hank, please stop talking about it. He's not the only one that lost." I took a swig of my drink, letting it sink in.

"Something tells me you're a bigger part of this than Professor let on. Actually, he never mentioned you to me." Logan said, turning to me. I walked to the nearest window, facing away from them.

"I'm really not that surprised. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, I chose to go with Erik, which is the day Charles lost his legs. My life with Erik was...unexpected. Hell, I had no idea weeks earlier that I would grow to my potential, when all I ever had was a way with memories. Erik and I were destined to be together, that's all I knew and it set me on the path that I didn't think I could come back from. The problem with our little Brotherhood...was some of us died, and some of us are still living with the guilt of it." Logan soaked in what I had to say, surprised to find that Erik Lensherr had a different side. The one that I had occupied.

"I'll help you get her. Not for any of your future whatever, but for her." Suddenly, Charles appeared again after being alone with himself.

"Fair enough."

"But I tell you this, you don't know Erik. That man is a monster, a murderer. You think you can convince Raven to change, to come home? That's splendid, but what makes you think you can change him?" Every time Charles spoke of Erik that way, it would always bring up the rift that I now had with my friend. I understood why he felt that way, but it was different in my eyes.

"Because you and Erik sent me back here together."

"So there's hope." I said, knowing it was a long shot that somehow, some day the two men could become friends again.

"I seriously doubt that, darling."

"The room they're holding him in was built during the second world war when there was shortage of steel, so the foundation is pure concrete and sand, no metal." Hank quickly brought us up to speed on what we were facing to get him out.

"He's being held a hundred floors beneath the most heavily guarded building on the planet."

"Why is he in there?"

"Oh, he forgot to mention?" Charles chuckled to my annoyance.

"Uh, JFK." Hank chimed in.

"He killed?"

"What else explains a bullet miraculously curving through the air? Erik's always had a way with guns."

"I was there, Charles, you weren't." I stiffened in defense. He didn't know how it all went down that day and who was the real culprit behind that bullet.

"Oh, so that explains why you jumped to defend his innocence for all of America to see?"

"Its more complicated than you think!" I slammed my fist down, sending a harmless red wave of energy across the table.

"Right, as you so often have explained to me of course. Anyways, you're sure about this?"

"Hey, this is your plan, not mine."

"We don't have any resources to get in." Hank chimed in, worried that the plan would fail.

"Or out. It's just me and Hank. And Leah, if she's not too rusty, and I highly doubt that energy of hers will attract the attention we need."

"It's been a while, but I think I can use my mind to help." The comment was not meant as a jab to Charles, but it certainly came off that way.

"I know a guy. Yeah, he'd be a young man by now. Grew up outside D.C. He can get into any where! Just don't know how the hell we're going to find him."

"Is Cerebro out of the question?" Hank hopefully asked Charles.

"Oh, that's good." I chuckled, my sense of care for feelings was eroded by my years of depression and cynicism that was not that different from Charles'.

"We have a phone book." After taking a few minutes to find it, we searched through the book, huddling around nervously.

"Ah hah! Mr. Maximoff. So do you two plan on getting out of your pajama's so we can take a little road trip?" Logan asked, still uncertain over our mental state.

As I dressed in a black long sleeve shirt and blue jeans, I thought how similar today was to how it all started when I met Erik and Charles. Both times within an hour, my life had changed completely. This day was different, every day was not the same any more.


	14. Chandelier

"Let me guess, you haven't driven in a while?" Logan asked Charles as we pulled up to the house we had been driving to for the past three hours.

"I am a bit shoddy, yes. There, just up there."

"Next time I'm driving, alright don't get used to it." Logan said, reflecting on how most of the trip entailed him teasing Charles' driving skills. The three men sat in the front as I fit into the smaller back seat, musing about the conversation.

"Finally, we're here! Sitting in that back seat with you three was enough to last me a while." I said as we filed out. Maximoff was written on the mailbox, so we knew we had reached our destination.

The front door was glass, and had curved metal decoration on it. Next to Charles I stood in behind Logan and Hank, waiting for the door to be answered.

"What's he done now? I'll just write you a check for whatever he took." The woman answered when she came to the door.

She wore a conservative yellow sweater over a blouse, with a look of apprehension on her face. She looked like to be about late thirties to early forties, but still retained her beauty not many with children usually had after child rearing.

"We just need to talk to him." Logan coolly said, his face a mask of calm behind his sunglasses.

"Peter! The cops are here, again." She nodded and opened the way for us in.

"Something tells me your friend is a model citizen!" I whispered to Logan which earned a humorous grunt.

Making our way down the basement, it was filled with loud music and what appeared to be a lot of stolen goods. A ping pong table was in the center of the room, with what appeared a young man flashing back and forth. We had to do a double take as he went from one side to another playing against himself.

"What do you guys want? I didn't do anything, I've been here all day." Before he even finished his sentence, he flashed away to the couch behind us and leisurely sat. Once he finally sat still, I could see who the mystery friend was. He had uniquely silver-grey hair and was an avid fan of Pink Floyd due to his clothing.

"Just relax, Peter. We're not cops."

"Of course you're not cops. If you were cops you wouldn't be driving a rental car."

"How'd you know we've got a rental car?" Charles asked, clueless without his power.

"I checked your registration when you walked in the door. I also had some time to kill, so I went through your rental agreement and saw you're from out of town. Are you F.B.I.?" Peter asked quizzically, right before he pick-pocketed Charles' wallet.

"Nope, you're not cops. Hey, what's up with this card?"

"That's an old card." Charles stressed as he picked up his fallen wallet.

"He's fascinating!" Hank said smiling.

"He's a pain in the ass." Charles was in no mood.

"What, a teleporter?" Hank asked Logan.

"No, he's just fast and when I knew him he wasn't so young."

"I think he's adorable." Peter briefly blushed as a sent him a friendly wink.

"Young? You're just old." Peter said, almost done eating a popsicle this time.

"So you're not afraid to show your powers?" Hank asked.

"Powers? What powers, what're you talking about? You see something strange here? Nothing anything any one would believe if you told them." He denied, not trusting us.

"So, who are you? What do you want?" Peter transitioned over to an arcade game, forcing us to once again turn around.

"We need your help, Peter."

"With what?"

"To break into a highly secure facility and get someone out." Placing his fists on his hips, Logan seemed much more patient than he had originally been when I first met him.

"Logan, are you sure he's ready for this?" Though marvelous his power could be, I had to doubt a little if he would be serious enough for what we needed.

"Prison break? That's illegal, you know."

"Um, only if you get caught." I almost wanted to laugh as Logan looked around at the stolen goods.

"So, what's in it for me?"

"You, kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon." Rubbing his eyes, Charles casually said piquing the teenager's interest finally.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Because we're just like you." Logan replied.

"Show him." Charles said to Logan and myself. I went first, conjuring up a red ball swirling around in my right hand, enjoying the warmth I felt. Curling up his fist, Logan let the bone claws slowly break through the skin between his knuckles, making an uncomfortable sound. The face Peter and myself made were very similar, as I had never seen his actual mutation before.

"It's cool, but disgusting."

"Hah! I think we'll get along just fine boys." I smiled and sat on the couch.

"So, the plan." Charles began filling in Peter.

"Yeah, just tell me what you want me to do!"

"We will start off in a tour group until we find the perfect moment to break off into the back hall that leads to the kitchen. Hank will stay with the group and use a device to interfere with the security cameras so we won't be seen." Charles said before letting Hank take over.

"As they're making their way to the meet up, your job is to intercept the security guard that delivers food to the cell. I trust that won't be a problem for you."

"I want to go with him." I chimed in, not wanting to waste another moment having to wait.

"Leah, we talked about this. Unless you develop the power of invisibility or super speed like our friend here, its not a good idea. There will be more than a few guards in that area with guns." Charles said, still ever the protector.

"Ooooh, plastic guns! I'll blast them all away before they could even shoot me." I sarcastically said, waving my fingers not worried at the thought.

"That's exactly what we don't want, bringing attention to us. Are we clear? We need you with us."

"Fine." I begrudged, cracking my knuckles in preparation.

**X-x-X-x-X**

The tour was incredibly boring, so I tuned the woman out and focused my senses on our surroundings and looking as inconspicuous as possible with my friends. Fortunately, it didn't take long before we had our opening to break away from the group. I gave Hank a quick reassuring squeeze before we detoured to our right where a staircase led downstairs. After going down a few flights, we reached a hall and quickly strode through it, hoping Hank had turned his device on so we would remain undetected.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." Charles quietly muttered under his breath.

"I can, should have been much sooner. What, don't tell me you're a sourpuss like Charles here!" I teased Logan, who even as his future self didn't seem to hold a lot of love for the master of magnetism.

"If you only knew, sweetheart." Logan lightly chuckled before becoming serious again. I assumed he meant in the future they weren't the best of friends.

"Leah, if you'd be so kind and tell me where Peter is?" Charles said, ignoring what I had said.

"Give me a second. Time lag, you know." I reached out through the building to find Peter's previous memories, making sure they were only a couple of seconds behind at most so I could as up to date with what he had seen.

Once Peter had taped the security guard down and stole his clothing, he was on his way out of the elevator with a tray of food. I braced myself because it would only be moments before I would see my beloved, although it would be through another person. The memory flashed forward, with Peter entering the cell.

"He's in the cell now. We have to hurry." As we reached the end of the corridor, I focused back on Peter.

The cell was all white, with the only opening being where a food tray slid down into the room. My first glimpse of Erik Lensherr sleeping, his face portrayed serenity. His hair was different now; his smooth side part was less evident and replaced by a hint of wave and wildness from not being kept.

My breath caught and I could feel my heart rate increase when he opened his eyes and looked up at Peter. It felt like he was looking at me. I swallowed and did my best to keep my composure over seeing him for the first time in a decade.

"The alarm is about to go off in: three, two, one!" And with perfect timing, I knew the glass was shattered and there was no going back now.

Hank was playing his part as well, he instructed us the fire alarm in the kitchen would be going off at about the same time we would make it there to rendezvous. I smiled to myself when I saw Peter knock all those security guards down as they raced past them into the elevator.

" _Must have done something serious. Whaddya do, man, whaddya do? Whaddya do? Why'd they have you in there?" Peter queerly asked._

" _For killing the president." Erik said as he caught his breath. I didn't like that he acknowledged that. Peter turned to the guard, who was still trapped in the corner of the elevator and silently mouthed to him._

" _The only thing I'm guilty of is fighting for people like us."_

" _You do karate? You know karate, man?" Peter switched, I suspected the speed of his brain made it easy to mistake him for attention deficit._

" _I don't know karate. But I know crazy." Peter smiled, and made me wish I was in his place._

My focus on Peter's memory fizzled away as we walked into the kitchen to find the alarm going off and the sprinkler's spraying water everywhere.

"Ladies and gentleman, we have a code red situation. We are evacuating the entire floor, so we, my uh, associates and I, can uh, secure the premises!" Charles stammered as the kitchen staff left, but the two guards remained. Logan exchanged a stern look with me for Charles, but we nonetheless let him take the lead. I was already starting to feel mentally drained.

"Who are you?" The guard cautiously asked.

"We are... special operations CBFECI... C. Look: perhaps you didn't hear me when first I spoke, but it's _imperative_ that you understand we are in _complete_ lock down situation. We have to get you to the third floor..." Charles struggled at first to improvise, but it didn't take long for Logan to lose patience and take care of the situation himself. He rolled his eyes and knocked the guards out with a pan in less than five seconds. By now, our clothes were pretty much soaked from the water.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you finished?" Logan sarcastically said before smiling at me.

"Logan, if I wasn't already in love with someone, I think I'd kiss you." I said fondly to him as Charles stood dumbfounded for a moment.

"I can't argue with a foreign beauty. In another life." He winked at me, giving the lead back to Charles who took the keys to the elevator from the guard.

My vision quickly flashed back to Peter's for a split second, seeing him make conversation with Erik while they waited for the elevator to bring them down to the kitchen. He made the most odd comment about his mother once knowing a man with the same powers that Erik had, which caused us both to have a worried expression on our face.

"Sorry, I'm just not very good with violence." Charles said, with his back turned from the elevator.

"Oh, we know." I said, just as the elevator door opened.

"Charles..." Both of their faces changed as they saw each other, but Charles' demeanor changed more as he ironically slung his fist back to punch Erik in the face.

"Erik!" I instinctively ran to him as he lost his footing, ignoring Charles who cradled his hand in pain.

"Good to see you too, old friend. And walking." He looked at me, but not long enough before he had to speak with Charles. He owed him that much.

"No thanks to you."

"You're the last person I expected to see today." I helped him stand up, my hands slightly shaking as my fingers grazed his arm. The dark side of me didn't believe he was real because I spent years thinking I'd be alone the rest of my life without him.

"Believe me, I wouldn't be here if we didn't have to. If we get you out of here, we do it my way. No killing!" It pained me to see him be so contemptuous to his former best friend.

"No helmet! I couldn't disobey you even if I wanted." Erik, on the other hand kept a cool demeanor.

"I'm never getting inside that head again. I need your word, Erik." Out of respect for Charles, I stayed silent especially on the fact that Erik didn't know Charles had lost his powers.

"NOBODY MOVE! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" The room was suddenly flooded with pentagon personnel armed with guns right at our heads. We stepped out of the elevator and Erik moved me behind him, but kept his calm as usual.

"I'm not letting them hurt us." I pushed my way around his arm and stood next to him, not caring that I risked being shot. Even Logan still tried to keep me behind them.

"Charles?" Erik asked, expecting him to do something.

"HANDS UP, OR WE WILL SHOOT!"

"Freeze them, Charles."

"I can't." Is all he said, and with that Erik turned to the men and started to use his powers. My hands instantly brought forth my power, ready to throw at the man closest to me if all else failed. Logan was not far behind.

"NO!" Charles tried to stop the violence that was about to start, but the very next second the scene had changed drastically.

Bullets flew in different directions meant for us, and the guards were knocked out. One punched himself, two punched each other out, and another was thrown up and down to the floor. Peter, who was last seen behind us, was now across the room with his goggles on and wearing a security hat. Exchanging looks with each other, I breathed a sigh of relief for not dying the moment I found Erik again. Leading us out, Erik and myself followed behind Charles hand in hand, with Logan behind us.

"Thanks, kid."

**X-x-X-x-X**

The cabin was small, but had just enough room for a cot where I could finally have a moment alone with Erik. When we had arrived at the private airport, I said my gratitude's to Peter but didn't linger, quickly heading up the stairs of the plane to beat every one else. I knew Erik would follow me. When he closed the door and turned back to face me, my walls came crumbling down. I slapped him, trying to stay resilient so he wouldn't see me weak. I couldn't help but feel some anger that he had been locked away.

"Well, that's the second time I've been hit today, but it certainly beats being stuck in that-" I cut him off, crashing my body into his with a searing kiss. Our arms immediately found each other as if they never left. His lips overpowered mine easily, and I melted.

Long, powerful kisses mixed with short sweet ones as we kissed for what seemed hours. My hair was dry but left with tangled, slightly wavy curls that he eagerly put his fingers through, and I found myself with tears silently running down my face. His other hand reached up to find them and he slowly broke off.

"It's been a long time, love." His gaze pierced mine, leaving me in a trance as it always had.

"Eleven years. Too long. Every day was Hell." At that statement, my facade completely came down as

my mouth broke into a quiet sob.

"I know. I've regretted every second of it. You look as beautiful as the last day I saw you. Hank was right about you. I think I'll be an old man when you look like my trophy wife." He mused which caused me to nervously laugh, because I knew better.

"Oh, you don't see the bags under my eyes? I have not been kind to myself, Erik. You should hear the stories the local barkeep could tell you about my many visits to him!" I laid my head against his chest and sighed, wishing I could change everything.

"I had to go away, I'm sorry." He kissed the top of my head before reaching for the bag of clothes I had packed for him.

"You did it for her. To protect her. I tried to find her after it all went down. She's impossible to track. I don't trust her any more. Not after what she did." I crossed my arms, waiting for him to finish changing.

"I don't want to talk about Raven." He said, avoiding the subject. I exhaled heavily and wiped my tears away, composing myself.

"Well, we're about to take off. We better get back, even though I don't want to." My mind lingered on him, my body desperately needed him, but I knew now was not the time or place. I gathered my jacket and exited the room and went into the main one where Logan was already sitting next to one of the windows.

"Happy reunion?" He asked, sipping on a drink.

"More than you could ever imagine." I sat down and a moment later, Erik came out buttoning up a blue shirt. On the table in front of Logan, he went to grab the newspaper but was blocked by claws.

"Imagine if they were metal." Erik turned and sat next to me.

"Where did they dig you up?" He said, not looking at the wolverine.

"You're going to find this hard to believe, but uh, you sent me. You and Charles, from the future." Erik quickly looked his way in disbelief and then looked at me for my reaction. I nodded and for a while we stayed in silence.

After the plane had taken off with Hank as pilot, Charles sat staring intensely at Erik. I could feel the tension, although Erik and Logan seemed to be fine.

"How did you lose them?" Erik was first to break silence, daring but not caring to tempt Charles' temper.

"The treatment for my spine affects my DNA."

"You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?" He asked incredulously, not understanding why he would do such a thing.

"Erik." I gripped his arm in protest, but to not avail.

"I sacrificed my powers so I could sleep. What do you know about it?" Charles quietly said, looking down.

"I've lost my fair share."

"Ah, dry your eyes Erik. It doesn't justify what you've done!" His voice climbed now. My hand dropped from Erik's arm and clenched into a fist, my temper starting to flare as well.

"You two need to stop talking." I sternly warned, gritting my teeth because I knew where this was going.

"You have no idea of what I've done." Erik's voice was still just as even, despite Charles.

"I know you took the things that mean the most to me." With his statement, he revealed his true hatred for Erik. He only used the assassination of the president to cover up his true pain, the pain that had made him the embittered man he was today.

"Charles, shut up!" My hand was very hot now, I was a thread away from burning a hole in the hull.

"Well, maybe you should have fought harder for them."

"If you want a fight, Erik, I will give you a fight!" Both men got up, but through all of this Logan still sat in his chair.

"Sit down!" Logan became the mediator as I was not helping to deter the conflict.

"Let him come."

"You abandoned me! You took her away and you abandoned me!" Charles pushed at Erik, but would not budge. I rose quickly, my hands pushed him back in warning. I could feel my hands and eyes were starting to glow red. I was not ready for this. Eleven years after we left on that beach, after everything that happened afterwards, I still was not ready to confront those demons.

"Angel. Azazel. Emma. Banshee." Each name he spoke sent a stab through me, and I not only lost my balance from Erik losing control of his powers, but because of the panic attack I was having.

They were all dead and their deaths replayed in my mind. Over and over, the wounds became fresh again and stabbed me in the heart each time. My curse of memories came back to haunt me tenfold of what it would do to a regular person. It was enough to break me.

"Mutant brothers and sisters, all dead! Countless others, all experimented on! Butchered! Where were you, Charles?"

Hank lost control of the plane as it began to nosedive. Everyone but myself and Erik were able to stand still, but that did not change the fact I sank to the floor.

"No, no, no, no. You don't know what it was like Charles, you didn't have to see them dead. The blood!" I screamed, angry at Charles.

"Erik!" Hank frantically said before we crashed.

"We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your own people needed you? Hiding! You and Hank, pretending to be something you're not! You abandoned us all!" Erik's fury was great, it had been bottled up much the same as Charles' but worse.

"Erik!" Hank protested again, this time leading to the plane starting to stabilize again.

"You abandoned us ALL!" And then it ended. I held myself, talking myself down mentally; it was the only way I could calm myself without using alcohol to soothe the pain. Charles rose, clearly disturbed and stalked off to the cockpit.

"So, you were always an asshole." Logan said, breaking the ice as he lit his cigar.

"I take it we're best buddies in the future?" He asked, turning around. All of the anger was gone in his voice now.

"I spent a lot of years trying to bring you down, bub." That earned a chuckle from him.

"How's that work out for you?"

"You're like me. You're a survivor. You wanna pick all that shit up?" Just as soon as Logan could be dead serious, his style of humor would ring in the next statement.

"Hah! Oh my." I ran a hand through my disheveled hair and laughed. Erik turned and looked at the damage, and just as I was about to get up and help clean the disorganized room, he picked me up and started to take me back to the private cabin.

"Is she going to be alright?" Logan asked out of concern.

"She's just mentally exhausted. It takes a toll out of her." He replied as I sighed and closed my eyes and huddled up against his chest.

"Is my hair falling out yet?" I morbidly joked to my lover.

"Never." Entering the cabin, he gingerly laid me down and sat next to me with my hand in his.

"You were always worth it, _leibling_. I can't lose you again." I took a deep breath, my mind no longer swimming in chaos.

"I won't lose you either." He brought my hand to his mouth and softly kissed it. I knew he longed for my body as much as mine. At that moment, I did not care we were on an airplane with three other men. The world did not exist outside that small room, so I anxiously pulled him to me to bring him back to my lips.

"Make love to me, please." No other words were said. His lips graced mine slowly but surely while his hands moved down my body, remembering all the delicate curves that had been long neglected.

I reached down and started to unbutton his shirt and then let him bring my shirt over my head. His lips trailed to my neck, softly nipping at the skin as he cupped my breasts. I could feel his hard member push against me and I could wait no longer. He leaned back just enough to pull my pants off and then his own.

He brought his face level with mine as he gently guided himself into me. My eyes welled with tears as I adjusted to him. I went years without him; the pain of him entering me was only momentary, then my wetness welcomed him. It was as if I was losing my virginity all over again, but this time it would be perfect.

His pace quickened, but kept at a steady rhythm to not lose himself too quickly. Our eyes never left each other, except when we kissed, and it was so sweet. His manhood swiftly dipped in and out of me, with it our quiet moans breathed in each others ears.

"I love you, Erik." I let the tears fall, but they were not of pain or sadness this time.

While his right hand found my breast, his other held my hand until the ecstasy had built to climax. He waited for me, making sure I reached my nirvana so he could with me. It was the most amazing thing to ever happen to me, it was like our first time together but multiplied. I could feel his seed dripping out of me and down my leg but did not care. I had been told I was infertile a long time ago, but a more recent visit to my doctor had proved that my fertility was not as shot as it had seemed. I left that up to fate.

"I love you too, my soul." He laid on his side facing me, never leaving my embrace except to pull the blankets on us.

"What's going to happen when we find Raven?"

"We're going to secure our future. And then I'm going to make you my wife."


	15. Reasoning

The rest of the eight hour flight to Paris went much smoother after things had settled down. As strained as my friendship with Charles had become over the years, I still always found it in me to stay with it I reflected as I sat across from him and looked out the window. Looking behind me, I saw Logan with his eyes closed and Erik heading towards us.

"Fancy a game? It's been a while." Erik brought with him a chess set, as if we were still ourselves from ten years ago. Charles took a sip from his glass, I detected his mood was still sullen.

"I'm not in the mood for games, thank you."

"I haven't had a real sip in ten years." He leaned against the armrest of the chair beside me and savored the taste.

"I didn't kill the president." Erik went out and said it.

"I've been telling Charles that for years and he still doesn't believe me."

"The bullet curved Erik." He continued to look away, not being able to look at his best friend.

"Because I was trying to save him. They took me out before I could."

"Why would you try and save him?

"Because he was one of us."

"You must think me so foolish. You always said they'd come after us." Charles scoffed and shook his head.

"Along with some research, I knew it as well. I could...sense it. You'd know he was telling the truth if you had your powers." I knowingly said, too tired to even be annoyed at that fact. That was one of the biggest resentments I held towards him, much the same feelings that were reflected in Erik.

I couldn't understand how he could help cultivate so many mutant powers, including mine, and then just give up on it. When I was at the start of my depression for losing Erik, he wasn't there; the Vietnam war wasn't enough of an excuse for me.

"I never imagined they'd use Raven's DNA to do it."

_Reasoning with him isn't going to get you anywhere Erik._ I voiced in my head and then projected to him. It wasn't exactly telepathy, just a fleeting imprint now in my memory that faded as fast as it was sent to Erik's mind.

He glanced at me and continued his conversation, stubborn to not give up on his friend even though he knew things were irreparable. I sighed and rose from my seat, tired of being the third wheel to their conversations and went to sit with Logan.

"Tired of threesomes already, are you?" Logan sarcastically said, raising an eyebrow at me tiredly.

"Ha ha, very funny. You look like you haven't slept in weeks. There's a cot in back if you need it."

"Oh, I know but I'm not going any where near that thing. And you're right, I haven't slept in weeks. When you're being hunted down and constantly having to move, sleep isn't a top priority any more." The reality of Logan's statement stung when I envisioned it. I couldn't let it all in though, he had what seemed millions of memories over his long life time and this mutant extinction was hard to see.

"I'm not going to let that happen, and neither is he. Whatever differences there are between you and Erik, I'm not going to let our race become extinct, Logan. I promise you." I placed my hand over his before my attention diverted back to Erik's conversation with Charles.

"I'm sorry Charles. For what happened, I truly am." I kept my back turned to him, but hearing how honest Erik sounded made me melt. I wish the world knew him through my eyes.

"It's been awhile since I've played." Charles finally gave some ground, clearing his throat and changing his posture.

"I'll go easy on you. It might finally be a fair fight." Erik finished his drink and prepared for the game.

"You have the first move."

When I grew tired, I switched to the couch and quickly drifted but became alert some time later when I sensed someone placing a blanket over me. The lights had been dimmed but I knew it was Erik before my eyes came into focus.

"Rest, Leah." I grabbed his hand and led him back to the cabin refusing to be without him. He slipped in behind me and draped his arm over me to keep me warm.

"Don't leave me again." I murmured half-asleep, grasping his hand.

"Of course they'd have to lock us up together, _leibling_." I wanted to reply, but exhaustion overtook me for the rest of what remained of the trip.


	16. Now and Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Du bist mein= You are mine
> 
> Zu mir kommen= Come to me
> 
> Du hast mich erschreckt= You scared me

"So, we're just going to walk in there undetected...just like that?" I asked from the backseat of the car Logan drove to the Hotel Royale where the peace talks were to be held.

"Not exactly." Erik replied with a simple wave of his hand at the gate that barred our entry. Two guards were sent flying and knocked out. Quickly putting the car in park, we all hurried out and made our way through the halls, looking for our destination.

"We need to hurry, this assassination Mystique is planning could happen at any moment. I couldn't grasp onto anything from the guards since _someone_ knocked them out." I sent a knowing wink Erik's way as we made our way up the stairs.

"My dear, if Charles had his powers, that wouldn't have been an issue." Erik cooly replied. I sensed Charles was too focused at our mission at hand to care, I couldn't fault him on that.

"Do you hear that?" Hank was the first one to hear the commotion down the hall, his mutations were more keen than ours, although I had begun to pick up on some of his power in the years I stayed at the mansion.

"I do, it's Raven!" My ears picked up on it a moment later as I strained to focus. Charles and Erik took our word for it as we picked up pace to find the source.

"Raven!" Charles was the first to call out to the blue mutant when we strolled through the doors. She sat on top of the conference table, ready to strike a fatal shot to Bolivar Trask. My mind automatically went into defense mode as the momentary distraction we provided gave a man in military garb the opportunity to shoot her with a tranq dart.

"Raven! Raven!" Charles rushed to her side as she twitched in pain while Erik quickly removed it and sent it to neutralize the man. As they spoke, I stayed silent by my lovers side and wondered what having Raven back in our lives would mean. My thoughts changed as I felt Erik's fleeting thoughts enter my own.

_We cannot afford to let this happen. I'm sorry, my old friend._

"Erik!" My voice betrayed me, I couldn't understand what he meant to do. Why he would do what he was about to do. Their close relationship was always a thorn in my side, but I still cared for the woman deep down...as complicated and misguided those feelings were. Erik summoned the gun from the table and pointed it at her, all emotion was drained from him now.

"Erik?" Raven asked softly. I looked to Logan to intercede on her behalf, but found no help as he stood against the wall, grimacing in pain. I had no time to help my old acquentance and delve into his mind, Raven was the priority.

"Erik, what are you doing?!" Charles held out his hand to no avail. He glanced at me, but knew I would be of no help either. I could not stand against Erik, I knew he had good reason to do this. But I was still torn by the predicament, always in the middle of it all.

"Securing our future. Forgive me, Mystique. As long as you're out there we'll never be safe." Erik faltered, he could have already shot her but she deserved an explanation.

"Use your power, Charles! Stop him!" Raven was already in a crouched position to flee, but since she did not know what had happened to her old friend she was doomed to fend for herself.

"He can't." And then everything went to chaos. Hank pushed me out of the way to charge Erik, tumbling to the ground.

"Erik, no!" I cried out as I landed, my head hitting on the ground. My vision faltered for a second as pain registered, but I had to push it from my mind. Erik was already guiding a bullet towards Raven as she ran for her life out the window.

The next second Erik landed a hard punch to Hank's jaw once they landed, sending him off to the side in pain. Charles turned and tried to pommel him but I knew Erik had too much will to let them stand in his way. I scrambled forward to try to separate the two, but to no avail. I refused to utilize any of my powers against either of them, instead trying the old fashioned way of stopping this from escalating any further. Charles roughly shoved me backwards; I gritted my teeth in frustration as this fragile alliance fell apart in front of my eyes. Erik seized that as his opportunity to land a powerful right hook to Charles, then proceeded to get up.

"Erik, please. You can't go out there, the whole world is watching!" I pleaded to him, I couldn't bear the thought of losing him again.

"Let them watch. I'm doing this for you, for all of you." He said with steel in his voice. Erik proceeded to retrieve a spare bullet and levitated himself out the window before letting me get in the way any further. Looking helplessly at Hank and Logan, who seemed to have a terrified look on his face now, I decided I was still needed here. We needed him alive to save ourselves from destruction.

"Logan, can you hear me?" I reached to examine him, but the Logan I knew was not there as he recoiled.

"Where am I? How the Hell did I get here?"

"What? You came to us." Charles was back on his feet now, not understanding our current predicament.

"He's lost his memory, shit." I reached towards him mentally and found nothing is how I knew as Logan angrily clutched at Charles for answers. Hank standing up in his fully mutated form didn't help his agitation either.

"We can deal with this, just stop Erik!" And with that command, Beast was off and my dread for what was happening in the courtyard was full blown.

"Charles, I can't help him. I can't retrieve his entire lifetime of memories right now, it'd take hours of focus to bring him back and we don't have that time." I grew antsier as each passing moment went by, I saw in my mind from fellow onlookers the fight.

"Okay, I can handle this. You're Logan, this is Leah, and I'm Charles Xavier. You spent the last couple of days with us...you're on acid. Somebody gave you really bad acid. Yeah?" If the situation wasn't so dire I might have laughed at that. As Charles worked on calming Logan, my impatience could stand no longer.

"I'll find my way back to you guys later, I have to go down there." Relying on my power from being around Hank, I lept out the window and quickly crawled down the building, my fingers quick to grab any ledges before tumbling down into the bushes. I panicked when I saw the pair struggling in the fountain, my rage flared when I saw Hank in the process of trying to drown Erik.

"Hank!" I sent balls of red energy at his backside, afraid in his moment of aggression that he was about to kill everything that kept me going.

The entire world saw me now, knew what I was, but I didn't care. I didn't have a world without Erik, I refused to be a shell again. The energy I exuded was non-threatening, but it was enough to give Erik what he needed. Hank became restrained by metal, giving me the chance to run to Erik as he crawled out of the pool.

_She's gone._

Erik's thoughts creeped into my mind as he stalked forward looking out into the crowd that held hundreds of people. Photographer's flashed photos of us countless times, it was pointless and beyond my power to wipe any one's memories of us being here. From then on, I knew we'd have to go into hiding.

"Erik." I brought him back to reality as a group of French policemen started to cautiously approach us. He sent them flying but that was the least of my worries. We needed to get out of there as fast as possible. When the crowd turned its attention to Hank, we ran through and found the nearest secluded alleyway that was not swarming with cops.

"We need to change our appearance. Our faces are going to be everywhere looking for us, Erik." I turned my focus to altering my appearance, which always took effort. Being around Raven recently helped though, as I shifted my hair to a shorter length and turned it red. I still couldn't do a lot though. A few small alterations to my face did make a difference though.

"You're getting better. Last time I saw you do that, you could only change your hair, not your face." He remarked as he watched for approaching police.

"Stand still, I can try to do it to you." I grasped his face with my hands, the contact being the only way I had the ability so far to change another's appearance. I probably would never be a shifter like Mystique, but I could make a fortune in the movie industry at this point. It took a second, but I made his hair grow shaggier and grew a beard along his jaw, enough to conceal his appearance for the time being until we could find somewhere safe.

"You always amaze me, Leah." Now that we were out of the immediate line of sight, we took a moment to finally breathe in each other's arms. His clothes were still wet, so while he stayed hidden in the alley way, I hurried to a nearby shop to get us new clothes. I didn't bother paying, my purse was left on the plane so I just altered the shop keepers memories to think I had paid for everything.

"Here, you can take a shower once we find a hotel." Before we stepped back onto the street, we gathered our composure to look as normal of a couple as possible. The streets were still hectic, but no one knew who we were. A taxi dropped us off several blocks away from our original destination, and when we stepped into the hotel room, I finally felt like I had a moment to breathe.

"Holy shit, I cannot believe we escaped all that!" I blew out an exasperated sigh as I locked the door and made sure the curtains were drawn.

"You worry too much." Erik said in a quiet voice as I paced the room before he drew me into his arms.

"I do. But with good reason." He captured my lips then and the tension drifted away as the world grew dark. His hands were firm as they always were I remembered, and tonight was not a night for gentleness like the previous one. Our fingers entwined in each other's hair as I let our appearances return back to normal. When we opened our eyes, we had the chance to share this moment of reprieve.

"I love you." I say, my breath is shaky as I look into his eyes.

Erik replied wordlessly by picking me up, his lean arms gathering under my butt, coaxing my legs around him.

"I know." His lips collided with mine, forcing them apart with little resistance. The way our tongues danced around each other, coupled with our lips pecking sent a wave of heat radiating in between my thighs.

I began to peel my top over my head in between Erik's lips grazing along my neck and collarbone as he treaded backwards to sit us on the bed. My mind was swimming at this point with my desire for this man still went strong after a decade. My love for Erik Lensherr was unquenchable, undying. But, this time was different. We were different.

The world had been re-making us and with that changed the dynamic, I could feel it from Erik. I could say it was neither good nor bad, it just was.

Our hands searched all over the contours of our bodies, looking for something we could never find, endlessly searching. His touch was all consuming, it was everything I could ever need to be alright in this world, and yet I kept needing more. I felt as if his hands ever left my body I would die. And I knew Erik thought the same.

_I could drink you for days and it would never be enough…_

His thoughts floated into my mind as a whisper, I simply nod for him to know I feel the same.

"Lay down." My voice a command as I gently place my hands on his chest. Erik's eyes pierce my own, now hooded with desire.

Pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the side, he lays back and lets me marvel at his perfectly sculpted torso. It looks better than ever; prison kept him in shape. I bite my lower lip in delight before telling him, "Du bist mein." and then my lips are on him.

I am careful as I survey his abs with my lips, not wanting to miss a single inch of it. I start to make my way up his chest before I decide to climb on top and straddle him with my thighs. I'm aching now, but I so need to preserve this out as long as I can.

"Leah, zu mir kommen." Erik beckons to me, but I'm not ready. Undoing his pants, I slip my hand in and grasp his hard member and smile. I feel wickedly like my old self now, but better, more empowered than I ever was. He's already following along now, shrugging the pants down his hips, ready for me to take him.

I'm now left with just my bra and bell bottoms on now, I stand up carefully on the bed as I discard the two and leave my panties on. At this point, Erik cannot take the wait any longer as he pulls my hand back down to him. I siddle downward and settle in between his legs this time, ready to take him in my mouth.

Our eyes never leave each other as I do, even as his breathing turns ragged and his eyes threaten to roll back as I take him in my mouth. I relish him, his full hard length filling my mouth as I bob up and down. I never took any lovers the whole time he was away, so this time Erik's freedom I perceive more gratefully and want to do more for him.

My hand grasps his balls and gentle massage them, earning a special groan from Erik as I've never done this to him before. I can feel my wetness starting to soak through my panties, making even I grow impatient, but I stay focused. I drag my lips up and down from the tip to the base and feel satisfaction as Erik begins to buck against me.

"Do you like that, liebe?" I ask, knowing he will get me back for this.

"You…" He says almost incoherently, before his torso rises up and throws me back on the bed. I give a startled yelp followed by a laugh before turning to jelly as he looms over me. His hands are on both sides of my face, enclosing me under and exciting me more. Now is Erik's turn to torture me, and I am oh so looking forward to it.

"You are the devil, but I love it." His hand is already tearing at my panties, forcing them down to give entry. Without realizing it, my hips are bucking upwards of their own volition and I welcome his fingers as they enter my womanhood.

"Oh, baby!" I cry out as two fingers slide in and out of me, opening me up. He hooks them into that sweet spot and I'm already feeling undone. As quickly as pleasure builds a momentum, Erik is already withdrawing his fingers and setting them to task against my clit, and that's where his fun truly begins.

"Tell me this is mine, you are mine." Erik's voice is now a harsh command as his two fingers play me like a fiddle, and there is nothing I can do but ride it out. I beg and plead for release, but each time it starts, he withdraws and starts a new pattern to touch me to.

"Oh, Erik. This is yours, all yours!" I cry out, lashing my head from side to side in heavenly agony.

"That's right." Erik sends me a devilish smirk before kissing me as he lets me finally come. I moan into his kiss as I knead my fingers desperately through his hair, but I know this is just the beginning. He's back where he started but this time his mouth is doing the work.

His lips and tongue prod at my center before entering me. I have not felt this done to me in a very long time, so the wet feeling of his tongue on me is even better. His tongue darts in and out of me, his hands are cupping my butt, forcing me up, and then he travels to my pearl. He swirls his tongue around it before taking it in his mouth, sucking at it wildly.

"Scheibe! Oh shit, please take me Erik!" I cry out as my fingers clutch to him. He moans approval as he continues his ministrations with his mouth and slips a finger inside of me.

I see him stroking himself with his other hand and just that image sends tingles down my legs. I have never been this turned on in my life, and it's the most amazing feeling in the world. Nothing else exists, but us in this bed. As I begin to get carried away by my nirvana, Erik suddenly retreats and I know it's finally time.

"I'm going to fuck you now." His voice is husky and low, his promise making me touch myself to his pleasure. He watches me for a moment as I grip my breasts, my fingers grazing my nipples in a teasing gesture. I am dying in ecstacy in this moment, and he hasn't even entered me yet.

I welcome my legs around his waist as he settles in between me, easily sliding his hard cock in. I am tight and welcoming at the same time, just opening up enough to take him. Wrapping my arms around his torso, our eyes meet as he starts to drive himself into me. Our lips are back to each other, fighting an endless battle. My body's instinct to move into his thrusts takes over, letting our bodies synchronize in perfect harmony.

"Fuck, Erik!" I'm moaning into him, trying to muffle my loud sounds into his body.

He pounds away at me, chipping away at my walls each time until I'm laid bare. Everything I am is in him, _is him_. We switched positions then, I turn around and go on all fours to let him have his way. This is all for you, Erik. Our pace changes as he grips my hips, holding me to him.

"Leah…" Erik groans in pleasure while he thrusts harshly forward into me like an animal. It takes everything in me to stay in one place as he moves against me, but I do it. My legs threaten to turn to water as my weight is on them and my orgasm is rising. I want to scream out into a pillow, but I'm immobilized with Erik's almost crushing grip on my hips. Despite a potential bruise, I love it.

"Yes, like that!" I cry out, my hedonism overpowering my mind. His cock hits the deepest part of me, opening me up wide and threatening to send me over the edge. The sensation is terribly amazing, all I want to do is scream from the unbearable pressure I feel deep within me as he buries himself to the hilt.

"Say it!" Erik says more harshly this time, and I obey without any thought to question.

"Fuck me, Erik! Fuck me hard!" I am carried away by my words now, for what primal need Erik Lensherr has unlocked within me.

He pounds furiously now as I feel my wetness start to drip down my inner thighs. Our skin is slapping from the contact, his balls hitting my skin faster than I can count.

"Leah, I'm about to come." He warns me, letting me know he needs my orgasm. I clench my walls around him and let my nerves sing with fire as we climax. Erik pours his seed into me, I can tell it's a lot as it takes him several moments to finish. He stays inside of me and grips my back as I cry out.

"Oh my god…" I let out with an exhausted sigh before he slowly pulls out of me and we lie down.

"Marry me. Tonight." Erik curls his arm around me and pulls me close, almost surprising me with this.

"Tonight?" I almost stammer, but deep down I'm joyful and relieved.

"Yes. I've been in love with you since 1962, Leah Braun. I don't want to wait a moment longer for you to be my wife." Erik's expression softened from moments past where it was lusty and hardened, now melting my heart.

"We'll have to find someone who speaks English, but yes, Erik Lensherr. I will marry you tonight!" I smile at him, letting him take my hand to his lips for a kiss.

"But not before we take a bath." His lips glide over mine when his hand grasps my chin. I sigh in his embrace as we bask in our afterglow for another twenty minutes.

"You did quite a number on me!" I laughed as I rose from the bed, feeling my legs still a little weak from our encounter. I didn't bother looking for a hotel robe to put on as I started the shower.

"Uh, yes, I may have gotten a little carried away." He almost awkwardly laughed and ran a hand through his hair, walking over to me.

"You can never be too carried away with me, leibling. We have a lot of catching up to do." He held me then in his arms, and I thought of how I could never tire of how he switched from rough to gentle so easily. Normal people might find it exhausting, but I loved the versatility in his personality behind closed doors.

After our shower, we fell asleep lying together in the bed, or I at least thought we did. I woke up to find Erik missing from my side, almost panicking until I read his note on the night stand.

_Be back soon, ~Erik._

I couldn't wait around. I rifled through the shopping bag of clothes putting on a dress and was about to head out the door when Erik suddenly walked in.

"Du hast mich erschreckt, Erik! Where did you go?" I clutched at my chest, my heartbeat in a limbo between relief and anxiety.

"It's better if I show you." He pulled out of his coat pocket a box, opening it to reveal a gold diamond ring.

"It's beautiful, Erik…" I gazed at its beauty and inspected it closely to see his name engraved on the inside.

"I've found someone who will do it, are you ready?"

"We couldn't be going fast enough, my love." After I altered our face, we walked hand and hand through the lobby and hailed a taxi to the place we were going to be married.

" _We've already gave you the money and documents for the marriage."_ Is all I have to say, imprinting the false memory into the man's mind. I also add in its to be a very simple, short ceremony as per we spoke of before.

"Ah, yes. I am ready if you are!" His Parisian accent is thick; before I would have cared we weren't doing this in Germany or back home but now I don't care, I just want to be Erik's wife.

"You have the rings? Ah, good. Now, let us start. Do you, Erik Lensherr take this woman to be your wife, to have and to hold, to protect, through sickness and health?"

"I do." His hands are grasping mine, warm yet cool at the same time.

"Do you, Leah Braun take this man to be your husband, to have and to hold, to protect, through sickness and health?"

"I do." I smile at him and feel my face reddening as desire is already surging through my bones.

"Then, by the authority of this church, I declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!" He rose his hands up clasped with a joyful look as the organist began to play the traditional melody. All that was left was to seal it with a kiss; a sorely overdue one as I transformed into Leah Lensherr finally!

Erik closed the small gap between us and took my face in his shaky, nervous hands. For some reason, I find myself shy like a virgin at this particular moment with my soul mate as he tilts my face upwards. Our lips slowly meet at first until our first kiss as husband and wife deepens. I am his and he is mine, now and forever.


	17. Duality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ich liebe dich über alles= I love you above all
> 
> Immer und für immer, meine Liebe= Always and forever, my love
> 
> Scheisse= Shit (A personal favorite of mine)

I gaze at the band on Erik's finger when I look down and beam with pride before we turn and take a picture. My dress is modest but I can tell Erik is devouring me with his eyes as they wander down my form.

"Here you are, Madame Lensherr. I wish you both luck!" He passes the polaroid to us and moves to leave, but not before I grab his hand.

"We were never here. You don't seem to recall Erik Lensherr and Leah Braun getting married here today. You've been busy with paperwork the last hour and have had a pleasant evening so far." I force the memory into his mind, erasing all traces of us being there before we move to leave.

"A simple, yet very convenient power you've always had, my love." Erik kisses my hair as we hail a taxi to take us back to the hotel.

As soon as we're in, I can't keep my hands to myself, the driver keeps his eyes on the road as our lips clash. When we arrive, Erik lowers my lace veil before tracing his fingertips over my simple white chiffon gown. My hands glide over his black jacket, wanting to savor its touch before I rip it off him.

The hotel door wasn't even closed yet when Erik picked me up, my legs snaking around his waist as he kicked the door closed. His hands were firm on my behind, the touch making me want to grind my body against his, I can barely take the anticipation before he sets me down at the foot of the bed.

"Ich liebe dich über alles…" Erik's fingers trail so lightly up my neck it gives me goosebumps down to my legs. I always cherish the few words we speak in German to one another, these moments are so rare.

"Immer und für immer, meine Liebe." The next step is slow as I turn my back and wait for him to unzip my dress.

His mouth gently places kisses on the nape of my neck, savoring my scent like I will disappear as if I am not real. I slowly slide out of my dress and feel Erik's warmth as he brings his arms around me in an embrace.

"I know, it doesn't feel real to me either." I turn around and slide my arms around his neck. "I keep expecting them to take you away from me again."

"I'm not going to make that mistake again." Erik's promise makes me strong again, my strength is renewed to fight my demons head on no longer afraid.

"Neither will I." I lean upwards on my toes and kiss him, my lips perfectly curve and yield to his, it feels so right. "I'm stronger now, Erik." I briefly break off and place my hands on his chest, conjuring a harmless energy that brings a hunger out in his eyes.

The next few minutes go agonizingly slow. Erik gently lays me down on the bed before taking his clothes off. My eyes can't help but narrow in on the fine contours of muscle, he's sculpted like a god more than ever! His soft lips ghost up my inner thigh, just enough to tease and elicit a gasp from me before he begins to pull my panties down. He's barely touched me and my heart is already racing.

I ache to touch him, any of him. I see his hardened member and want so badly to feel it but I know I must wait. Erik is taking his time, I will give him that. His mouth doesn't take long to find its destination, he eagerly kisses my sex and watches intently as I begin to react. I can feel his tongue swirl around on my pearl of nerves, and my legs immediately begin to quiver, it's maddening how good it feels!

"Oh, Erik…" My hands are in his hair as he settles in between my legs happily and goes to work.

His humming reply teases me, the slight vibration reminding me of the many lonely times I was left to pleasure myself when he was away. My hips have a mind of their own I find, I can't help but grind myself into Erik's face as he picks up pace, his tongue is furiously moving side to side against my clitoris. This intense pleasure radiates into my thighs, they're a quivering mess I can't control and it's driving me insane because it feels so good!

I toss my head from side to side, there's no coherency left in me as I moan and gasp, my orgasm is holding steady, not ready to let go.

"Fuck! Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, Erik!" I coo into his ear when he raises himself on top of me and teases his head against my dripping entrance.

"Mmmm, that was good." A naughty smile plays across his face, licking his lips which brings my focus back. I need him so badly, I don't want to wait any longer; I gyrate my hips around his head before guiding it in. Now it's Erik's turn to become unjarred.

We are happy to keep it at a normal pace, we feel no need to rush things or be harsh for the sake of kink. This moment is a husband and wife making love while we look into each other's eyes, giving our souls. We aren't labelled as his or hers at that point, we are one person that could never be separated again.

We whisper sweet declarations in the others ear once he's spilled everything into me, but reality soon sets in.

"What are we going to do?" I shift into the crook of his arm, knowing we can't live in this bubble much longer.

"We plan our next move, of course." He shifted upwards to turn the television on, but not without me noticing the light blood on the pillow. How did we not see that before?

"You're bleeding! Come here." I turn his head and see a very small cut embedded between his hair.

"Don't worry about it, I'll sew it. I need the plans I stole from Trask, it's in my jacket pocket." I move out of the bed, the temperature of the room sending goosebumps along my naked flesh. I grab a spare bathrobe from the chair and find the plans and stare at them for a moment.

The means to our destruction. It's so light in my hands but I know what I hold is heavy. So much is at stake, and my decisions are a part of it all. I force Logan's memories of the bleak future at bay and bring them to Erik, who is now sitting in a chair preparing a makeshift film projector.

As Erik studies the sentinel plans, I turn my attention to the news and see the reports of the incident.

" _There was no trace of the four individuals once they fled the scene. Local authorities are still scouring the area, they will be making a statement as soon as possible."_ Our faces replay over and over on the television, for all the world to see. How will we make it on the run? It's never been easy for us, but the whole world will be looking for us now. I swallow the lump in my throat and look over to Erik, who doesn't seem the least bit concerned.

He stares so intently on the plans, almost fascinated by it as he leans forward. His expression almost seems foreign to me, but I understand. A lot is at stake, and we have to fix this mess we helped start. I should have helped Raven, but I was so consumed by my grief over losing Erik. If only I hadn't been so selfish, I could have guided her away from this path, and now we face a potentially unbearable scrutiny under the world's microscope.

We both look back to the television when we see Erik's attempt to stop Raven failed; the authorities had collected samples of Raven's blood from when Erik had shot her!

"Scheisse!" My face falls at this development, it only shows we must act. What action it requires, is the real question. I know Erik too well; he'll want to take the radical approach, but I worry. Should I reach out to Charles?

"We have to find her, explain things." Erik is already up and getting dressed while I am still still in my own ruminations.

"In a city like this, we'll need all the luck we can get." I say as I gather my clothes and we get ready to track down an impossible mutant.

X-x-X-x-X

It took some time walking about as covertly as possible in populated parts of the city, but I sensed Raven was close. We had just entered a subway; I had altered my look enough to not be recognized, going ahead of Erik and finding a seat to scope out the area. Everything had seemed like it should be, the bustling crowd going about their business. When Erik began moving through, my nerves were on edge until it seemed no one had recognized him. I relaxed and watched the crowd, studying its movement.

Until someone grabbed Erik and threw him inside a phone booth. I almost jumped up and was ready to rush forward, when I saw that someone had turned out to be Raven in disguise. This was not going to be pretty.

_Stand down, Leah. I've got this._

Erik's thoughts came to mind, letting me know I could relax, even though the mutant had a weapon pressed to his neck. I'm not sure I would ever fully trust Raven, even though I came to love her in my own way.

"If I see so much as a screw move, I will jam this into your throat." It was hard to see through all the people moving through, but my hearing was perfect as I focused in on their conversation. Raven was furious with Erik for what he did, and I couldn't blame her, but we had to get through to her what was at stake.

"How did you find me?" His voice was calm, he never worried about Raven even though he had reason to be this time. How Erik could be so calculating and collected was a mystery to me; but I always admired it about him.

"You taught me well." And of course as Erik always did, the storm that was about Raven was already soothed. I peered through the crowd and could see she still had her weapon to his throat, but a look of tenderness was peaking through.

"It's been a long time since we were this close. I missed you." This was one of those rare times I wanted to slap my love. He knew how I hated when he said those sort of things to her. She had loved him in her own way, and even though I knew Erik was always faithful to me, it still stoked my inner jealousy. Erik Lensherr was mine.

"You tried to kill me."

"So the rest of us could live." Erik said knowingly, causing Raven to question him. He continued, "We received a message from the future."

"Don't lie to me." Even in her anger, Raven was still exceedingly beautiful.

I estimated she was somewhere in her mid twenties now, and even though my looks had barely changed (thanks to absorbing some of her mutation) she still looked younger than I did ten years ago. People didn't believe me when I told them I was already approaching my mid thirties, women often tried getting me to give them some sort of secret formula to my youth. If our situation wasn't as tense as it was, I'd thank Raven.

"I never have, and I never will. You can ask Leah, she's right over there." I watched him gesture his head over to where I sat, I gave a nod in return. "Humans use your blood, your genes, to create a weapon that wipes us all out. I was only doing what I thought necessary to secure our future."

"So what's to stop me from killing you right now and securing my future?" That did not sit well with me. As soon as the phrase killing was out of her mouth, I quickly strode forward and leaned against the phone booth's frame.

"I'm a lot more powerful than I was ten years ago," I crossed my arms with a stern look on my face. "I would strongly advise against that, Raven…"

"It doesn't matter any more. They have your DNA. Your blood was on the street."

"Whose fault was that?" Raven said almost annoyed before looking disapprovingly at me. For some reason I was always the tie breaker, whether it be Raven or Charles as the third player, I was the deciding factor. I always chose Erik's path above everyone else's.

"I'm sorry!" I cast my eyes downwards in shame for how I stood by and did nothing.

"You were always too blind to stand up to him." Raven rolled her eyes, and I couldn't help but feel my power course through my veins at the insult. Who was she to judge me? She was always in love with him and would have followed to him to the ends of the earth as I would.

Maybe deep down I knew she was right and just didn't want to admit to it. I struggled for years with assimilating to Erik. Being one with him was a good and a bad thing; he was my soul mate. But with that shared identity, I always found Erik's will won out. All I had ever wanted was to make Erik happy, but did that always align with what was right and just?

"It was _mine._ " Erik interjected, speaking up for me. "I've seen their plans. They're creating a weapon, and now they have what they need to take it further. We have to strike now, while we still hold the upper hand." This clearly bothered both Raven and I.

"I've seen too many friends die, Erik. I don't want a war."

"Neither do I, but what do we do then, Raven?" I agreed with her, but all options seemed like no one would come out unscathed. I didn't hate humanity, I just wanted to live freely and not be feared.

"I only want the man who murdered them."

"This _is_ war. What happened to you? Did you lose your way while I was gone? Are you still Charles's Raven? Or are you Mystique?" Why did he question her motives and not mine? I didn't understand, he knew I was always on the fence but he never pushed me and questioned like he was doing with Raven.

I found myself getting more agitated, I had to step away from the conversation. I walked back and leaned against the nearby wall but my emotions wouldn't let me drown out their final words. Killing one man isn't enough. She told him it never was for him and then she said her goodbye. And then she was gone, disappearing into the crowd as someone else, Erik tried in vain looking around for her trace.

We went back to the hotel in silence and packed our things. We were going after the sentinel prototypes, that much we could agree on. I decided to hold back bringing up what was bothering me, but not for long. I hoped Logan was making progress with Charles, for all our sakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now they're married but of course Leah's moral dilemma's are once again back. I'm going to focus a bit more on independent identity with her, which was mostly inspired by personal struggles I've had within my own long term relationships.


	18. Soaked in bleach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Du machst mich verrückt, ich liebe die Art, wie ich in dir spüren= You drive me crazy, I love the way I feel in you
> 
> Wohin= Where to?
> 
> Immer und für immer= Always and forever

To infiltrate where the Sentinels were stored, we commandeered a small, private jet across the ocean; we learned they were being sent to Washington D.C. It had disaster written all over it.

"It seems like our actions did nothing to stop Trask moving forward with his plan." I said quietly, looking out the plane window.

"I'm going to tamper with the prototypes, they'll be moving them by freight at night." Erik took a swig of whiskey from his glass before putting his hand on my knee. "You've been quiet since we left Paris."

I turned to regard him. "Why did you question Raven and not me? I have not exactly been as on board with all of your actions over the years, you know that. Do you not care what your wife thinks?" It hurt me to ask him that, but I needed to say it. I never put a lot of thought into it; no matter my stance on his actions, Erik always moved forward with his agenda for mutants.

"Is that what's been bothering you? On the contrary, I do care what you think. You're the only person next to my side it doesn't matter if you have the exact same ideals. It was never the same with Charles and Raven. You are the only person I can't live without, so I can't afford to push you away if you disagree with me." Erik grasped my chin softly, I had to fight the urge to just melt into it. He always knew what to say to me. Two could play that game.

"And if we disagreed on what to do about Trask's program?" I raised my eyebrow, testing him. Erik gave a sigh.

"I don't want it to come down to that, Leah." He rubbed at his eyebrow, clearly agitated that I was questioning him. Tough luck, it was long overdue.

"That's what I thought you would say." I turned back to sit straight and closed my eyes, blocking him out and going into a trance within my mind. Had Logan succeeded in getting Charles's powers back? Only time would tell as I searched out, waiting for a lucky moment Charles would contact me.

How much time had passed? My thoughts were hazy as I stayed in a semi-conscious state, hoping Charles had finally gotten his shit together. I wasn't alone for long. I sat alone in my darkness until a small hand reached out next to me and grabbed mine.

I snapped my head to the right and saw a little girl in a dress. We stared, neither speaking a word. I felt such familiarity, who are you little girl? She couldn't have been older than three years old and already with such lovely brown hair and dark blue eyes fading to brown...

" _Leah, is that you?"_ Charles's voice called out then, I turned in its direction and the little girl was gone when I looked back. His voice was soft and barely audible in the darkness of my mind at first, I had to reach out and touch it.

" _Charles! Is everyone alright?"_ His figure finally appeared, he stood standing in the darkness even though in real time I knew he had lost the function of his legs without Hank's serum.

" _Yes, Hank and Logan are here with me now. Have you seen Raven? I was unable to get through to her and stop this madness."_

" _Yes, Erik talked to her_. _You can imagine how that went."_ Charles sighed, it was evident we were going to have to stop her plans using a more conventional path: force.

" _Where are you now?"_

" _Currently flying over the Atlantic. Erik has some sort of plan to interfere with the Sentinels. I don't know any more."_ I sensed Erik knew better than to tell me everything, it was only a matter of time before Charles got his powers back and he would contact me. While Erik had a helmet (retrieving it was on our agenda) to protect him from Charles, I was another story.

" _We're about to leave for Washington, there's going to be some sort of public demonstration. The President and Trask will be there."_

" _Okay, I'll see you guys there then."_ I paused, knowing this was the last time I'd be able to speak to my old friend before things got heavy. " _Be careful, Charles."_

" _I will. Good luck. I know it puts you in a complicated position, but you have to hinder whatever Erik's planning. Whatever it is, it can't be good."_ He was right, I was Erik's wife so it did put me in a precarious position to stand in his way.

I have always supported my husband, but I have to stand up for the greater good if he threatens to tear that down. Seeing that little girl reminded me of that. The endless violence it would cause, I can't let that happen. It would break my heart though. I saw my people be torn apart, I didn't want that for the world. Even the insufferable bigots that hated me, though I wouldn't mind them being knocked down a peg or two.

I awoke when the jet touched down on ground, Erik placing a kiss on my neck. I almost felt bad for how I left our conversation earlier, I wished all of this could be over so I could start my life with him and no complications.

"I was out awhile." I stretched my arms out and saw the sun setting in the distance.

"You were talking in your sleep." Erik pulled me to my feet and brought his arms around me, I was glad the tension was gone for now.

"Oh, yeah? What did I say?" I leaned back and looked into his eyes.

"You kept repeating the name Nina over and over again. Wasn't that your mother's name?" We broke apart and held hands as we exited the plane and found a car.

That definitely surprised me that I muttered anything while in my trance. At least I hadn't spilled the beans I had been talking to Charles. "Yes, it was. I don't know why, I don't remember dreaming about her. Huh." I threw my hair back in a ponytail and no more was said. We had work to do.

X-x-X-x-X

I sat in the car parked in a wooded area about a mile away from the Trask Industries property, patiently waiting for Erik to come back. He was gone for an hour when he came back.

"Wohin?" I sat at the wheel, ready to move.

Erik brought out a map and pointed our destination. "Here, we're going ahead of it, so we'll need to hurry if we want to be there in time."

"Are you worried I won't drive fast enough?" I grinned before pulling him to me and planting a kiss on his lips. "Don't worry, I can be fast when I want to be. We still have another hour before the train leaves." I winked, I knew he wouldn't deny my charm.

"How quick are we talking?" Erik's blue eyes bore into mine, I was already turned on.

My hand wandered down to his crotch, "I'll make you come as fast as I need to." My lips were on his ear, my whisper just begging for him to take me in the car.

Erik directed the seat belt off of me with a small flick of the wrist before replying, "Why not outside?" He let his lips deliciously curve to mine before exiting the car, striding over to my door. I had no time to think as he gestured with his hand for it to open, my legs were already shaking exiting the car.

I loved how he towered over my shorter frame, he looked down at me with so much power and dominance but he would never hurt me. His dominance was to be used for my pleasure, and oh, had I loved him for that.

He closed the door behind me, letting my back rest against it for support. My nipples immediately poked through my light camisole from the wind, even though I had a denim jacket on. How I wanted him to play with me, but time was of the essence unfortunately, or else we would have.

"I want you inside of me." I said breathily into his ear when he pressed himself up against my hips, my excitement making my heart beat faster. I got my answer by Erik undoing the buckle of his belt, unzipping his pants and bidding me to do the same.

He let the pants and boxers fall to his ankles while I yanked off my jeans; I could feel my wetness starting to pool in my panties at this point.

"These..." Erik stepped forward and grabbed the hem of my panties, "should be off." Erik followed with a swift motion pulling them down, leaving me to jump into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist. His hard member was inches from my entrance, it only took a small adjustment to position himself using the car as leverage behind us.

"Du machst mich verrückt, ich liebe die Art, wie ich in dir spüren." He teases his head for a brief moment, just barely dipping it into my wetness. My impatience bids me to thrust my hips to accept him, it so aches for release only Erik can give me!

We cling hard to each other once he begins to thrust into me, his hands are squeezing my bottom. I clench my walls around him, earning a husky growl from Erik. I know it gets him to climax faster, and also more eager to pound into me harder, and that's my desire tonight. He drives himself into my core deeply, pulling all the way out before plunging back in.

Changing course, Erik pulls out and places my feet back down on the ground. I pout at first, until he turns me around facing the car and angles my hips out, taking me from behind.

"Oh, fuck! Yes, that's it." My moans echo out into the woods when he grabs my hips and doesn't let go, fucking me with wild abandon. He pumps as deep as he can, the feeling of fullness so deep within is enough to drive me mad and scream out. His last two thrusts are powerful orgasming inside me, but Erik isn't done with me.

"Come here, love." I turn around and our lips meet, tongues clashing, we are so hungry for one another. If only there was more time! But there is just enough time for Erik to do one more thing. Sinking down in between my legs, his mouth finds my clitoris and he goes to work.

"Oh my-Erik!" I begin to squirm, hooking one leg lightly over his shoulder. I will myself to keep standing, even as my inner thighs start quivering uncontrollably. My senses overload, I can't take it. I'm grasping onto Erik's hair, trying not to pull too hard in the throes of my passion.

Several seconds go by when my climax begins to recede and I can relax. I slump forward into Erik's chest when he stands back up.

"I love you so much, leibling." Erik leans his forehead to rest against mine, we both wish it could continue like this. When there's just the two of us, it isn't Magneto and Memoria. Just Leah and Erik, in love. I want to make wonderful memories with this man so badly, I hope we can set on that path soon.

"I love you too." I sigh as we move to put what clothes we discarded back on and start up the car, it's time to go after the prototypes now.

X-x-X-x-X

We had scouted the perfect spot right outside of the D.C. area to intercept the convoy carrying Trask's weapons and now lay in wait right outside of a tunnel. As planned, the train exited the tunnel with a deep whoosh, and it was time for Erik to move. Stepping onto the train tracks, I climbed onto his back, holding tight to prepare for Erik's launch on top of the convoy.

We lurched forward, my breath caught in my stomach effectively making me never want to do that again! I was dizzy, so I immediately caught my breath sitting while Erik went to work uprooting the train tracks behind us and guided them to where the Sentinels were stored.

"Erik...what are you going to do with them?" I asked uncertainly, I knew Erik had be hiding his full intentions. I stood up, bracing myself against the night wind. When he didn't answer, I continued. "I spoke to Charles." I hadn't planned on telling him that.

"What?" That got his attention once he was done manipulating the robots. He looked at me indignantly. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I was worried about what you might do at that demonstration, the one I'm sure you've been planning on crashing." I paused, this part stung a little bit. "The plan you've been hiding from me." I don't know why I bothered to ask him what his plan exactly was, I knew it was something spectacularly disastrous in Magento fashion.

Maybe I just wanted him to be honest with me.

"I was afraid my fears would be confirmed if you knew." Erik gathered me in his arms and levitated us off the convoy, landing us right outside a town. Erik's old walls were up again, he was always like this with me when he was secretly afraid.

I grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop walking. "What fears?" I searched his face, studying the tired lines that graced his handsome features. He still looked so young to already be in his forties, we were blessed.

"That underneath the love we have, you're more like Charles than me." Erik ran a hand through his wind tossed hair, I could tell he was struggling to find the right words. "If Charles-if he or anyone else turned you against me...I-I don't know what I'd do." I found tears starting to form hearing his voice on the edge of faltering.

"I didn't know you felt _like_ that, Erik." I stood there at loss for more words. I didn't want to disappoint Erik, to hurt him. But I needed to be my own person with a moral compass. Someone my parents would have been proud of if they were still alive.

"It seems like we're at an impasse. Somehow I always knew this would happen." Erik said through clenched teeth, but I was quick to reassure him. Erik was always a man on a mission for mutantkind; I wasn't sure if that would ever change, but I knew it would never stand in the way of us. I was too stubborn to let our conflicting ideals ruin the best thing in my life.

"I will always love you and be your wife. Immer und für immer." I cupped his face within my small hands. "But I will stop you if I cannot dissuade you from the path I think is destructive." My warning was gentle, yet firm and I felt proud of myself for finally taking a stand for what _I,_ not Erik actually believed in.

"That doesn't sound as reassuring when you know my track record with humans."

"In other words...I may have to kick your ass, but at least I'll patch you up afterwards." I sent a wink his way and grabbed his hand before we summoned a taxi.

I didn't know exactly what was going to happen next, but I knew I was going to do everything in my power to make sure we survived, securing not only our future, but our race as well. The little girl in my dream depended on me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I've gotta be honest. If there was any a time to ask for your feedback on this story, it's definitely right now. What do you think of Leah putting her foot down? Do you think DoFP will end disastrously for this pair? And what's up with that little girl in Leah's mind, eh? :P I've read the plot synopsis for Apocalypse, can't wait to write it!


	19. Sentinel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah helps Erik get his helmet back and the Sentinel demonstration begins. Part 1 of the end to DoFP, almost to Apocalypse!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say real quick thank you to WinterChild1994, littleswift13, MrsWinterSoldier, and all other guests for the kudos! Bookmarks are nice too :D

Even though I knew doing this would contribute to Erik’s plans, it was a necessity he get his helmet back. The only true enemy that could take Magneto down (that we knew of) was Charles, their conflicting views made Charles a possible liability. I made a vow to Erik and to myself. Never again would I let a loved one be taken from me. I would protect my husband, even if he made that fight an impossible uphill battle, I would do whatever I had to.

You’d think after breaking him out, the guarded areas of the Pentagon would be a little bit more guarded! We strode into the archives with relative ease, almost not needing our powers at all. We walked through the halls with confidence, but secretly I dreaded being there.

“Tsk, tsk.” I wagged my finger at the guard sitting at the desk, his attempt to grab the phone was futile with Erik levitating two metallic balls around his head. I couldn’t help but bite at my lip, watching Erik’s cool demeanor, complemented by a fedora and dark sunglasses. He always knew how to bring out that side of me, but I needed to focus. We weren’t out of the woods yet, and now wasn’t the time to get flushed.

We walked forward in silence, Erik was Magneto now, his eyes straight ahead on his prize. His helmet was just as before. I took care to avoid looking at the remnant of Angel’s wing and Havok’s defunct suit, both on display. Angel was a selfish, arrogant bitch, but her fate wasn’t something I’d wish on any mutant.

“Feel better now?” I asked on our way back to the hotel. It was the night before the sentinels were to have their first public demonstration. I could feel my nerves on edge already, Havok’s power warmed my blood and coursed through my veins. I did my best to hide it, choosing to focus on my driving.

“Of course. Now I have what I need to protect us.” Erik’s voice was a mixture of mystery and reassurance. His hand grasped my own, making me forget my worries for a time.

A quiet mood settled over us as we slipped into the shower, I went first with my back to Erik.

“I missed this.” The water’s heat beat down on me, Erik’s body moving up against mine.

Erik’s face settled into the crook of my neck. “For almost ten years I took showers in a plastic room surrounded with guards and no privacy. This is definitely an improvement.” His hands grasped the sides of my hips firmly, claiming me.

For several moments we just stood there, forgetting about the world and what was going to happen tomorrow. Those moments were peaceful, followed by a private dread in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to feel that way, like everything was going to go wrong, but it was hard to not feel that.

Erik turned me around and grasped my chin. “Come here.” He guided my lips to his, and I finally broke my silence with a sob. I didn’t know why I was crying, but I just let it flow as Erik pulled me into an embrace and soothed my anxiety.

We made love that night, several times. Erik’s body on top of mine made everything fade away and for that I was thankful. When we were done, we laid facing one another.

“Don’t do it.” I whisper, afraid someone might hear. My nerves were calm now, I was almost feeling resigned but I could never stop trying with Erik.

“If only it were that easy. Go to sleep, love.” Erik’s fingers threaded through my hair before moving to give me one last kiss goodnight.

“I love you, Erik.” Was the last thing I said to him before sleep finally took me.

He slipped out at some point very early in the morning. It must have been before dawn, because I was up by seven, discovering an empty bed.

“Fuck!” I cried out, angry that I let him go. I searched around for any sign of his things, they were gone, but a note lay at the night stand.

“ _I’m doing what must be done, I couldn’t involve you. I’m sorry. I will find you, no matter what it takes.”_ He knew I would stand in his path like a boulder, but he didn’t want to hurt me. Same old stubborn Erik. Stifling my power through clenched hands, I threw myself out of bed and got myself together with as much haste I could muster. There wasn’t a lot of time. I had to find Charles and stop Magneto before he got himself killed.

X-x-X-x-X

It was too late to call the mansion, I knew Charles, Hank, and Logan were already in D.C. so contacting them the conventional way was a no-go. I would just have to find them there, probably last minute. The streets surrounding the white house were packed as I made my way towards it. I managed to get there early enough with an hour to spare, so I hung back and looked for someone to swipe an invitation from.

“Excuse me, sir?” I made sure a button was undone on my black blouse, that usually did the trick as I waved a man down waiting to cross the street to go through the checkpoint.

“Oh, hellooo. Can I help you, miss?” The young man sent a look down my frame, looking all too eager to talk to me. I rolled my eyes within my mind.

Stepping forward, I grabbed his hand and focused on him. “Darlin’, you remembered to bring my invitation, right?” I forced the fake memory into his mind, making the man think he had two.

“Yes, here it is! I must have left mine in my car.” A confused look spread on his brow. I was really doing him a favor.

“You go get your invitation and I’ll save you a seat, darlin’!” I flashed him a smile and sent him on his way before heading off to the guarded checkpoint to get into the event. Once in, it was time to do recon.

Charles, where are you? I called out in my mind, hoping he was there. The event was packed, I’d have to rely on my senses. I wandered around, looking through all the people eagerly waiting to hear the president address the people.

“ _Leah?”_ Charles called out in my head, I looked all around and couldn’t see where he was.

“Charles! I’m here!” I said out loud.

“ _We’re just now getting in, come to the back row of seats.”_ I followed his instructions and was greeted by his voice behind me. I turned around and saw he was back in his wheelchair. It was a bittersweet moment, my memory vividly recalled the circumstances that caused it.

“God, am I glad to see you three. I take it Charles took care of the invites?” Placing my hands on my hips, I regarded Hank and Logan.

“Of course the Professor did. And you? How did you get in?” Hank asked me. They didn’t have to ask about Erik, Charles gave me a knowing look of understanding why I wasn’t with my husband.

“Take a wild guess. It’s probably a good thing the gentleman I took it from won’t be making it back in to join his ‘date’.” I turned to idle chat with Charles and Logan. “You both look...good.” Charles hadn’t looked better since the war started to be honest. Now Logan on the other hand, in another life…

“You too, kid.” Logan winked my way before we headed to find a seat. Charles went to work, his finger to his temple searching for where Raven was.

“I haven’t found her yet, but she has to be here.” Just as he said it, time was up as President Nixon was being introduced.

“We need to hurry, if we don’t stop her…” I trailed off, forcing down the fragments of Logan’s memories I had witnessed when he first came to us seeking our help.

The future was so dark, there was no hope left in the world. I probably wouldn’t live to see it, but it made me shudder to think my children would. And they would either be enslaved or die because of their genes; that already happened once. Never again.

“My fellow Americans, today we face the gravest threat in our history: mutants.”

I gritted my teeth at his words, and bared down even harder when I looked down the line of military personnel behind him and spotted Trask and his henchman we encountered in Paris. I looked to Charles who was still searching for Raven for some clue to who she was hiding as.

“We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer, ‘Behold...the world will never be the same again.’” Nixon turned to gesture to the banner that fell down, revealing several ready Sentinel prototypes. Everyone cheered and it made me sick.

“Disgusting.” I muttered under my breath, grabbing Hank’s hand who had a dismayed expression on his face. The star spangled banner played perfectly along with the crowds cheers of approval, the amount of ignorance brought back the seeds of resentment Erik had shown me in the past. I struggled with that anger then and now. I was not a hateful person, but damn did it make me angry!

“Raven? I have her. There.” He pointed to the front where a middle aged man was posted. “You see? Secret Service man. Left of the stage. Go.” I chose to stay behind with Charles, I knew Hank and Logan had it covered. And Erik was still yet to appear, I had to be ready for his arrival.

And when the prototypes activated on their own, I knew Magneto was close.


	20. Fight for peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the one thing I struggled with in this chapter was switching from past tense to present tense, I don't know why it just felt like I wanted to write both :S

I was the only one to turn and see what was in the sky. “Oh, shit.” And that was when the chaos unfolded. “Magneto.” A fraction of a moment later the prototypes began blazing the grounds indiscriminately. I can hear my pulse pounding loudly with adrenaline. While the crowd fled in terror, I stood planted firmly next to Charles’ side ready for anything.

“Erik!” He yelled up at the sky, now occupied by a giant floating stadium, this was the work of my husband. I formed a protective bubble of red energy around us automatically (a new trick I had been working on), while I watched Hank and Logan run for cover behind a car.

“I hope you can stop him, that’s a little out of my department, Charles!” The stadium was practically upon us now, hovering above! Huge chunks of debris were falling straight down in our direction, my instincts took over me then. Charles threw himself out of his chair to the side to miss being crushed, but I was not worried.

I summoned my power, ready to fully unleash it after keeping it tethered to me for so long. The exciting tingle my fingers always felt brimmed to the max with energy allowing me to shoot the chunks of metal coming down to pieces. At the last second I took a knee and formed a barrier stopping the remaining pieces from crushing us. The whole stadium was now on the ground encircling the white house!

The dust had not even settled when Magneto levitated himself down with his sentinels, his grand entrance complete. I knew there was nothing I could have done to prevent Erik from doing this; he was just too powerful. I could stop the sentinels though.

I wasn’t strong enough to use my powers to move the scraps pinning down Charles.

“I’ll...be fine. Just go, Leah!” Charles grunted under the strain; he was still regaining the full use of his powers after they lay dormant for so many years. Nodding, I ran over to where Hank and Logan crouched behind some debris assessing the situation. Magneto stood in the center with a sentinel guarding behind him.

“Nice of you to join us, Leah.” Logan said over his shoulder, which made me chuckle.

“Wrong girl, I’m Memoria.” My eyes flashed bright red, I could feel my blood burn for this fight.

“Fair enough. We make it out of this you owe me a drink.”

“Why is that?” It was ridiculous we were chatting it up at a moment like this, but if we were gonna die to try and save our race, we might as well have a little fun doing it.

“Because your husband is an asshole.” Logan sent a brief look my way with his eyebrow cocked, dead serious.

Making a short humming sound I said, “Fair enough.” and shrugged nonchalantly. God, how I wish I could laugh at that.

“I’m probably not supposed to ask this kind of thing, but in the future...do I make it?” Oh, Hank. You sweet man.

“No.” We both looked to Logan in disbelief. I didn’t want to know my fate. “But we can change that. Right?”

“Yeah.” It made me think of how my life would have turned out if Logan hadn’t been sent back. Erik and I wouldn’t have reunited, I probably would have wasted my life away a sad drunk, I guessed that’s why Logan had no recollection of me. I was not in the future that included Erik and Charles. But now our future was being rewritten, and it was time to save it now.

Hank threw off his glasses and triggered his transformation into the Beast, grunting and growling which finally grabbed the attention of Magneto. My eyes locked onto him, I pricked up my ears and listened to what he said to the weapon.

“Do what you were made for. Do not kill the woman.”

“Watch out!” We tumbled out of the way at the last second when its guns turned its gaze on us.

We hung back for a moment, letting the wolverine jump forward and take its swings at the sentinel. He moved with an animal’s fury, but his bone claws were of no use against it. From behind Beast, I sent shots of energy to block its gun from causing damage in between Logan trading hits with it. Beast waited for just the right moment when its back was turned to launch himself onto its neck, digging his extra strong hands into its wiring. The sentinel reared in outrage, its gun firing wild shots at the ground beneath our feet. I almost missed bringing up a barrier, but luckily all of the shots missed us anyways.

“I got this! Go!” Hank struggled with the hydraulics, I wanted to stay behind and help him but there was no time. We had to stop Magneto before this insane plan made things even worse for mutants. As of now, we were on a path of war that would lead to eventual genocide.

“Come on!” I steadied a stumbling Logan who coughed and groaned (Trask’s robots were no walk in the park) through the misty debris in the air and changed our trajectory Magneto’s direction. He stood there in all his glory, his armor was a marvelous upgrade from his early beginnings with the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Wolverine knew what he was fighting I could tell when he ran towards him, dodging and striking away the hunks of concrete Magneto sent his direction, but it wasn’t going to be that tactic that took the master of magnetism down. I stood still watching until a section of rubar pierced Logan’s back.

“Logan!” I ran forward to my friend as he collapsed from all the metal Magneto beckoned to pierce different parts of his body. “Stop it!” I yell at my husband, desperate and pleading for it to all stop. Logan’s pain reached out to me then, I staggered but stayed by his side. I can feel his mind in its current state struggling with his in the future.

Wolverine yelled out in agony, his body unable to regenerate fully with the metal still embedded, but just enough to keep him alive. I cringed watching Magneto levitate his struggling form up into the air.

“So much for being a survivor.” And with that, he flung Logan far off into the distance like a rag doll. Slowly my connection to his pain receded, but my anger was very prominent.

“God damn it, Erik.” I gasped rising to my feet, shaking off the feeling of remorse that I could do nothing to help my friend. Now it was just Magneto and Memoria, and I had to stop him. I knew what he was going to do: kill the president.

Erik ignored me and turned back to the White House, using his power to search and bring forth the bunker Nixon was hidden in. The ground in front of us began to shake, I didn’t have much time now.

“Stop this madness, Erik!” I shot warning beams the power equivalent of a tazer at him, but it wasn’t enough. I had to really hurt him. That made me all the more angry my husband was making me resort to this. I needed Charles’ help!

“Stay out of this, Mem!” Erik gritted through his teeth from the pain but kept pulling the bunker up until it burst through the front of the White House and onto the lawn.

When I would not stop my onslaught of meddling, Erik sent rubar to curl around my hands and feet tightly, forcing me down to the ground. He jerked the front wall of the bunker off, revealing a room full of armed men surrounding the president. Erik took their guns as if he was taking candy from a baby. They were just as powerless as Charles and I were at this point! I struggled against my bonds in vain.

“Erik, please! Don’t do this…” I was afraid for his soul then; how could he come back from murdering the president? How would we live as murderers? Not just of the president, even though that was obvious. If he did this, there would be no safety for mutants.

Magneto’s action would cause the death of our people, no matter if that wasn’t his goal. Erik had no vision of the innocents that wanted nothing of that, and Erik only knew how to wage war. Yes, he was a leader, but his radical ideals did not espouse the idea of all the collateral damage it would cause.

“You know why I’m doing this, for our future.” Erik refused to meet my eyes, maybe because the hurt in mine would sway him. Instead, he turned to face the cameras in our direction to fulfill his agenda.

“My love, you do not understand still...I have seen the destruction this will cause. If you do this, we will have _no_ future." I deliberately put emphasis on that. "I...I can’t let you do that.” I so wanted to show him what his actions would cause, but I couldn’t reach him with his helmet blocking out all telepathic abilities. I should have done it sooner, but I had hoped my words would have been enough. Tears brimmed my eyes, but I dare not take them off of him. He turned and gave me a sharp look in that moment, unsure if I really meant it.

Was it a bluff? I could not know, but it had to be said, regardless of what I wanted. All I ever wanted was a future with Erik. I couldn’t have that in these circumstances, it would never work.

And like I had promised myself before, I broke my own heart. I broke Erik’s heart. My words, _we will have no future_ were a dagger to the both of us to hear.

Nothing more could be said then. Either Charles would intervene and stop both Magneto and Mystique, or the bleak dystopian future would unfold. I could not kill my love even if I wanted to, so I lay on the ground defeated. Erik’s face fell when he saw me stifling the tears, I could tell his insecurity waged war within him. The only thing this man could do, all he knew how to do was continue with his plan.

“You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts? Humanity has always feared that which is different. But I’m here to tell you, to tell the world...you’re right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth. And anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you.” The world stood still, cold with fear to see Erik point in Nixon's direction. One of the most powerful leaders in the world was now in his mercy.

“Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead, I give you a _glimpse_ of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this: no more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows and shame and fear for too long. Come out." He was right about that, we lived in hiding and it wasn’t right. No mutant opposition, not even Charles could deny that point.

“Join me. Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow that starts today.” Everything went silent once Magneto was done, until the president stepped forward.

“Stand down. I said stand down!” Nixon struggled with the men sworn to protect him. Shit. This man had a death wish to walk forward and address Magneto. That got Erik’s attention, drawing him away from the cameras in regard to Nixon.

“You want to make a statement? Kill me, fine. But spare everyone else.” His bravado struck me, this wasn’t the real president. Mystique was onto something.

Erik took a few steps forward, the guns levitating in the air followed. “Very heroic, Mr. President, but you had no intention of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now.” The guns cocked. Charles, come on! I renewed my strength one more time against the metal, my last ounce of strength in vain. Before another word could be said, a sentinel charged at Erik, giving Mystique just the right moment to strike.

“Erik, no!!!!” I screamed in the split second Mystique transformed from Nixon to her blue form and shot a bullet his direction. The bullet grazed along his neck causing him to go down to his knee, and along with it his hold over the guns and the rubar holding me back. I rushed forward next to him, but Mystique was not done with her former mentor.

“You used to be a better shot.” Clutching at the surface wound, Erik's demeanor was calm even in the face of defeat.

“Trust me, I still am.” When I was sure she didn’t mean to kill him, I stood back and let her kick Erik, followed up with a pistol whip. I couldn’t deny Mystique that, he did try to kill her. Any one would still be salty about that.

Erik fell back to the ground unconscious, the first time ever I was thankful my love was hurt. I crawled next to him, cradling his head in my lap. I was too tired to do anything else. Now it was Charles’ turn to plead to Raven. I knew nothing I said could stop her from killing Trask. A vision of Charles appeared in the bunker, pausing everyone but us for his chance to plead with his adopted sister.

I zoned everything else out at that point; if the future was going to be saved Charles would convince Raven to do what was right. I looked down at Erik’s peaceful face, gently grazing my fingers along his cheek. God, I loved him so much. He was a complicated man, but I never did well with simple. I look over to Raven, seeing her conflicted expression painting the same demons Erik had, and I can't help but pity her that she felt like she had to be in this position in the first place.

Trask deserved to be punished for what he did to us. But this was not the way to do it. After the longest moment of holding our breath, Raven dropped the gun and everyone breathed a collective sigh. We did it!  

“He’s all yours, Charles.” Raven ignored my form, knowing I was not a threat when she moved to take off Erik’s helmet. I stood back at a distance and let Charles take control of Erik’s body to move the debris that pinned him down. Erik had dug us a deep hole of shit at this point, but I still stood by his side as we faced Charles standing with the help of Hank.

“If you let them have me, I’m as good as dead. You know that.” Erik called out, somehow I wasn’t worried about it.

“I know.” And I will follow. We were survivors.

“Good-bye, old friend.”

“Good-bye, Erik.” Erik sent a farewell look Raven’s direction before levitating upwards. Flying away from the scene, a thought of Erik's crept into my mind.

“ _Come to the place we first met, if you’ll have me.”_ I wanted to go with him then, but knew he was protecting me by making me go my own way with the whole world still watching.

“You sure you should let them go?” Hank asked when I re-joined my old friends. I snorted at it. As if you could ever keep those two down.

“Yes. I have hope for them.”

“Don’t worry about Erik, things are going to change.” I cracked my knuckles at this next part. “I plan on putting my husband through a very...rigorous rehabilitation after this.” Divorce certainly wasn’t in our cards, when I find Erik we will work through these problems, I was sure of it.

“Good luck with that, my dear. There’s going to be a time, Hank, when we are all together.” Charles gave me a look of friendship we had not experienced with one another in years. The nostalgia made me smile.

“What about Logan?” That was the million dollar question. Our plan had worked; we probably would not see our comrade for a very long time. Time would only tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be tying up the end of DoFP and bringing in the intermission between it and Apocalypse!


End file.
